by Karen Arbuckle | Jun 19, 2015 | News, Top Stories
NICE SHARE OFFER NOW CLOSED! We have done it. Through our community share offer NICE surpassed its capital investment target of £150k. The Board of Directors implemented the shares allocation revised policy (rev. @ time of the last share extension) ‘first come first served’. We can now confirm our share offer is officially closed @ a grand total investment of £150,450. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the local community for their interest and support in NICE, N.I.’s 1st solar community energy society and can assure you and our members that this finance has already been put to good work as reported over the last number of weeks. We also wish to thank Community Shares who with the support of the Building Change Trust helped us bring this pioneering community energy society to our local community. For those who missed out on an opportunity to become a NICE member – this is just our first phase project, please do continue to keep an eye on our website and social media pages for news of our future initiatives and possible future share offers! You can also subscribe to receive our E-News a link will be posted to our website in the coming days – please bear with us as we bring our website up-to-date to reflect our developments and achievements....
by Karen Arbuckle | Jun 19, 2015 | One Planet Development
Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE) held their first open public meeting in the Belfast area on Wednesday 17th June 2015. The event was kindly hosted by our members the Chinese Welfare Association who were our 2nd community organisation to receive a NICE funded 12 kW solar pv installation. We held the open community meeting as a ‘celebration of our achievements’ to date and to also ‘showcase’ the renewable community energy intiative at the Chinese Welfare Association. We were delighted to welcome Anna Lo, MLA Alliance Party South Belfast Constituency to talk us about the importance of community involvment in embracing renewable technologies in making a sustainable future for all of us and in reducing our carbon footprint. Anna commended NICE Board of Directors (all volunteers) for their aspirations and hardwork in bringing this pioneering project to fruition and she sincerely hoped that there would be branch off or mirrored community energy co-operatives established on the basis of NICE success. William Olphert, Managing Director Chinese Welfare Association (CWA) advised they had strived hard to acquire their own building and in being able to use solar energy to reduce their energy costs through NICE, helped them also to become more energy efficient and has made the long term sustainability of the centre more secure. He advised CWA would make a 2/3 saving on their annual electricity bills. We received a heartfelt welcome from Mr Danny Wong (Chair) and Mr Frankie Hee Ying Ho (Vice-Chair). They looked forward to the long-term partnership with NICE and hoped we would be frequent visitors to their Centre. They lead a guided visit up to the...
by Karen Arbuckle | Jun 19, 2015 | News
Local press release:- The Ashton Centre in North Belfast is opting for solar power as they join forces for with Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE), a community-owned co-operative that aims to help the community and voluntary sector while providing green energy. NICE has installed the panels at no cost to the Ashton Centre, making this a viable option for the organisation. Ciara Rea, Head of Corporate Service said “Ashton Centre is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and this is a great opportunity to work with NICE to meet this objective using a cooperative model. “Solar panels are environmentally friendly and will be the major energy source for the future and we are delighted to be part of this”. NICE is Northern Ireland’s first community owned solar energy enterprise and recently launched a Community Share offer to raise enough capital to install solar panels on the roofs of up to 9 buildings that are owned by Northern Ireland third sector organisations such as community groups and charities. Karen Arbuckle, Director of NICE, explained “The community buildings will benefit from electricity at a greatly discounted price for twenty years – while also supporting a more environmentally sustainable method of producing energy. Any surplus energy will be sold to the electricity Grid and NICE will be able to deliver a return of approximately 4% to investors/members as well as to create a community fund. The community fund will then be used again in local communities for energy saving improvements to tackle fuel poverty in Northern Ireland”. NICE was also granted approval by HMRC for the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) tax...
by Karen Arbuckle | Jun 19, 2015 | News
Press release:- NICE 5th free solar pv installation Featured in main photo are: Conal McFeely & Declan Ferry, Rath Mor Centre; Jo Bird NICE member with installers. These drone pics were kindly provided by Jack Farrell, The Hive Studios – Digital Arts Studio Creggan Enterprises announced it’s pleasure in its new partnership with Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE) to generate electricity from the sun and to reduce their reliance on electricity derived from imported fossil fuels. Creggan Enterprises are delighted to work in cooperation with NICE which is a not-for-profit community benefit society established to create opportunities for the advancement of community owned renewable energy projects and low carbon energy services with the financial benefits staying within local communities. The Ráth Mór Centre will be part of a unique and innovative project on approximately 9 local community buildings with suitable roofs across Northern Ireland. The installation of these solar pv arrays is to: * Reduce our carbon emissions * Showcase low carbon technologies within local communities * Provide an opportunity for local communities to own a stake in renewable energy; and * Provide discounted renewable electricity to users of community buildings Conal McFeely, speaking on behalf of Creggan Enterprises, said that being a member of NICE demonstrates the importance of cooperative and community ownership in the provision of locally owned low carbon energy services across all communities and we look forward to the free installation of our new 48 solar panels at the beginning of June. He said: “the revenue generated from the sale of electricity will enable us to reduce our costs, make our contribution to...
