Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative

The beginning of the project

Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative started as a pilot scheme in the Drombane/Upperchurch community (1,000 inhabitants) in rural Tipperary as a way to halt economic and social decline. The project began in 2011 when a local group  was looking to stimulate the local economy through developing jobs and ‘keeping money in the area’. Together with a rural development program run by a local development company, the local energy agency, and a technical university energy efficiency was selected as a topic to look at first. The aim was to help householders save money and stimulate local economic activity.

A community ‘Energy Team’ was set up to, together with university students, develop a community survey looking at energy use in the area. At the same time the survey was a means to engage with the community and create awareness on the benefits of energy efficiency in homes and availability of government grants. The second activity was to look for a group of householders interested in sustainably renovating their homes as to improve its energy efficiency using grants from the national government. This resulted in the first renovation projects, which started in four communities in 2014 and, after successful delivery of these projects, the founding of Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative in 2015.

Since then they have had many successful renovation projects across the different communities.

Activities

The philosophy of the cooperative is to make a renovation process as ‘light’ as possible for the home owners. The “offer” includes:

• Project management and coordination services
• Perform technical surveys
• Secure grant aid
• Source contractors to:
  • Perform upgrades to buildings: insulation (external and internal), ventilation and heat recovery systems, replacement of all single glazed windows, replacement of external doors
  • Install renewable energy systems: solar PV and solar thermal, wind, heat pumps
  • Perform upgrades to heating systems: standalone solid fuel stoves, control upgrades (e.g. zoned
    heating/room thermostats), chimney draught excluders, in the past boiler upgrades where done
  • LED lighting
• Provide quality assurance

Additional information

An analysis of the business model of Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative can be found on the resource collection. This can help energy communities involved in citizen-led renovation activities develop their own business models.