by Karen Arbuckle | Jun 8, 2016 | One Planet Development
Share Offer extended to June 30th 2016 NICE is delighted to report its 2nd community share offer, launched on 25th April, has raised its minimum capital investment target of £25k! This finance is going to be put to work straight away allowing NICE to commence free solar pv installations in the next couple of weeks for at least two community organisations that wish to join NICE. Thanks to all existing and our new members for their support and contributions to this NICE2 project! We can however with further investment do more…. The Board has therefore decided to extend the share offer until 30th June 2016. This is the link for the share offer document http://www.nicommunityenergy.org/…/Community-Shares_2016_FI…. Your investment can make a significant difference to any one of the 40 plus community organizations that have expressed an interest in our project, just be sure to learn everything about basics of investing before signing up. Help us to catch those rays and reduce energy costs for our target 10 community buildings installations! 130k is our aim. Don’t forget to monitor your rеѕultѕ and evaluate оn a wееklу and quarterly bаѕіѕ Thе аmоunt оf tіmе уоu ѕреnd mоnіtоrіng your holdings іѕ entirely uр to you. Durіng trаdіng hоurѕ, thе mоvеmеnt оf іnvеѕtmеntѕ іѕ but a сlісk аwау, and you could potentially ѕіnk a gооd аmоunt of tіmе each dау tracking thе mоvеmеntѕ оf your hоldіngѕ. Few wоuld recommend ѕuсh оbѕеѕѕіvе сhесkіng іn, аnd fоr gооd reason: Bеwаrе! At thе bеgіnnіng оf уоur іnvеѕtіng career, уоu may fіnd that it’s mіldlу аddісtіvе to lоg іn tо уоur brоkеrаgе ассоunt and wаtсh ѕtосk рrісеѕ — and...
by Karen Arbuckle | Apr 4, 2016 | One Planet Development
Action Renewables Awards 2016 – NICE Won Best Community Renewable Energy Project On 31st March 2016, Director, Karen Arbuckle represented NICE at Action Renewables 2016 Awards held at Titantic, Belfast. NICE enjoyed we believe the most competitive and award winner table at the event! Karen, NICE was seated with Nigel, Lawrence & Louise, Bryson Energy; Tiziana & Rodney, Drumlin Wind Energy Co-Op and Pearce & Zoe, BCH. Despite the competiveness commaraderie and well wishes were sincere and of course there was a bit of good N.I. craic too. NICE received winning first place in the category Best Community Renewable Energy Project which was sponsored and presented by Belfast Health & Social Care Trust! A list of all the category results can be found on the Action Renewables website. Of course we couldn’t let the afternoon go without some photographs of the event. The feature photograph is of NICE ‘shareholders’ Lawrence, Karen and Nigel. The last photo is Tiziana O’Hara, Co-Operative Alternatives who provided support to NICE through the Community Shares Ready Programme funded by Building Change Trust and Karen,...
by Karen Arbuckle | Jan 22, 2016 | One Planet Development
20th October 2015 at NICE Co-Op members – Ashden, North Belfast – 12 kW solar pv installation Tiziana O’Hara and Jo Bird the driving forces behind Co-operative Alternatives organised a very successful Study Tour of Northern Ireland Co-ops plus an international discussion on Co-op responses to Austerity as part of the all-Ireland Co-operative Convergence Festival. On Tuesday October 20 a group of people interested in exploring the co-operative model were taken on a half day tour to see the work of the Northern Ireland Community Energy society, the Belfast Cleaning Co-operative, the Credit Union for Teachers in Northern Ireland in Finaghy Road South and the Creative Workers Co-operative in King Street. Those taking part on the study tour included Anne Ford, from the Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE), whose successful community share offer was supported by the Community Shares, ready! programme commissioned by the Building Change Trust and delivered by Co-operative Alternatives. During the visit Anne Ford showed the PV solar panels installed on the Ashton Centre , explained the aims of NICE, adding that the centre was one of the 13 community and voluntary groups that her co-operative has worked with as part of its mission to encourage the use of more green energy. The reaction to the study tour was very positive from those who took part, including Dr Alastair Herron from Ulster University’s School of Art, who believes that it is a model that could be adopted by graduates looking at career choices after they have completed their studies. He said: “The tour was excellent and very informative. It is great to see local co-operatives developing...
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 | May 17, 2015 | One Planet Development
NICE showcased their community energy project @ Co-Operative Alternatives Clinic, Big Table Event-9th May 2015, Belfast.
by Karen Arbuckle | Apr 2, 2015 | News, One Planet Development
NICE has received very welcome confirmation from HMRC that our community energy share offer has been granted Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme Advance Assurance. This means if a UK taxpayer any investment in Northern Ireland Community Energy Co-Operative will qualify for SEIS tax relief currently 50% A great incentive to become a member of NICE! NICE members and potential new investors should take their own financial and tax advice and are responsible for submitting your own tax relief applications to calculate freelance tax. Please refer to the HMRC website for further information...
