Northern Ireland village aims to power homes with renewable energy from River Lagan

A community of like-minded individuals in Northern Ireland has set about generating its own geothermal energy to help reduce the Province’s carbon footprint.
From left: Ronan Davison-Kernan, Director, Edenderry Village Energy, Andy Hebdon, Director, Edenderry Village Energy, Tiziana O'Hara, Co-operative Alternatives, Andy Frew, Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE) / Secretary, Edenderry Village Energy, Colin Dunlop, Project Team, Edenderry Village Energy and Karen Arbuckle, Chairperson, Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE).From left: Ronan Davison-Kernan, Director, Edenderry Village Energy, Andy Hebdon, Director, Edenderry Village Energy, Tiziana O'Hara, Co-operative Alternatives, Andy Frew, Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE) / Secretary, Edenderry Village Energy, Colin Dunlop, Project Team, Edenderry Village Energy and Karen Arbuckle, Chairperson, Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE).
From left: Ronan Davison-Kernan, Director, Edenderry Village Energy, Andy Hebdon, Director, Edenderry Village Energy, Tiziana O'Hara, Co-operative Alternatives, Andy Frew, Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE) / Secretary, Edenderry Village Energy, Colin Dunlop, Project Team, Edenderry Village Energy and Karen Arbuckle, Chairperson, Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE).

The village of Edenderry in south Belfast has established a community co-operative who are seeking to bring about a sustainable alternative energy blueprint.

It comes as world leaders are meeting in Glasgow at COP26 to broker a deal to prevent a global climate catastrophe.

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The formation of Edenderry Village Energy (EVE) also comes at a time when some Northern Ireland energy customers are facing hardship as prices continue to soar.

EVE director Ronan Davison-Kernan said: “Edenderry Village Energy was set up by a group of residents with a shared belief, coupled with concern for the climate and future generations.

“We have backgrounds in energy, water and conservation, and are collectively striving to help the village make a just transition to clean energy helping to alleviate the risk of fuel poverty, providing a stable and dependable source of heat, not subject to increasing fuel prices, eliminating need for harmful fossil fuel boilers thereby improving air quality.”

Edenderry is a 19th century mill village, built between the years of 1866 and 1911 by the linen manufacturer John Shaw Brown.

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It is currently heated by a mix of oil and gas but the village’s location beside the River Lagan and placement on the Sherwood Sandstone Aquifer, means it is ideal for a district heating system.

Karen Arbuckle, chair of Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE), said: “The village of Edenderry is enviably positioned to avail of a natural sustainable resource on its doorstep.”

She continued: “Edenderry Village Energy’s plans began in earnest in the first part of this year. Unfortunately, unlike GB and ROI, Northern Ireland is currently devoid of any Community Energy Policy and development support.”

Karen hopes that the much-awaited Department for the Economy, Future Northern Ireland Energy Strategy publication will redress this.

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To bridge this current policy gap, NICE worked with Edenderry Village Energy, sharing knowledge, experience and expertise to aid getting this innovative proposal started.

NICE successfully pitched to The National Lottery Awards for All fund to procure a fundamental feasibility study, an early-stage necessity to gain an understanding of the potential geothermal options and project viability.

GeoServ Consultancy has been commissioned and the feasibility study is now underway.

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