1. Minutes of the last Meeting
Were approved.
2. Matters Arising
Event : FS has discussed with JFB and although nothing has been decided, its positive there will be an ‘event’ later in the year.
Funding : The DSEN will be receiving £3000 from EDF this financial year plus £1500 from each of the Devon Local Authorities apart from Mid Devon DC to cover core costs.
There are plans to link DSEN to the Devon Sustainable Energy Strategy which may open up more funding potential.
A discussion took place around the development of a flowchart / resource map as a potential outcome for this group. With so many organisations involved in sustainable energy and development it can be hard for businesses and consultants to readily find information they require. To have a resource to guide businesses to the information they need would be useful, possibly on line with links to other websites so it could be kept up to date. The problem we have currently is that with no funding for activities, nobody will take ownership of any task.
ACTION: Need to find out if this project would be useful to everyone. Need to secure support from steering group. The key, as always, is funding.
3. Feedback from Steering Group – Fiona Swan
(For full account of the Steering Group meeting please see attached minutes)
DCC are reviewing Devon’s RE strategy and have employed Tony Norton from University of Exeter to develop a carbon reduction strategy for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay. He has produced an analysis of how we would achieve our carbon reduction levels by 2010 / 2020 and come up with a set of actions. One key action is all businesses need EE advice, which is a huge task. To help deliver this task and the other recommended actions it is likely DSEN will be restructured to accommodate the key priorities. The likely new groups will be:
•business
•domestic
•large scale renewable energy
•zero carbon development
•transport reduction
As well as these key focus area there are 3 cross cutting issues which will be important to all groups:
•funding solutions
•skills and capacity building
•leadership and communication
TN & IH are writing briefs for these groups and it is hoped the proposal will be funded through LSP’s and the DSP.
The group discussed issues around this new proposal, including issues with skills and capacity building, particularly the cost of apprenticeships. FS stated RE4D have £50K from the LSC for this type of project.
The group went on to discuss the poor attendance at this meeting. It was pointed out that at the original business sub group meetings about 30 individuals sat around the table, many from SME’s. It was felt that the reason so many had tailed off was that most don’t have the time to access networks like this, and will only come if they can see gain from it. Maybe having groups which are structured and operate slightly differently will make a difference?
Discussion around what SME’s want and what this group can achieve for them continued. The group revisited the idea of a database containing links, technical data and funding information. It was decided this would need to be offered free of charge to make it attractive, therefore funding would need to be sourced for set up costs and for about 3 years maintenance. After this period it would be hoped that the established website could generate its own revenue through sponsored links or otherwise. This idea would be revisited at a later meeting.
4. Action Plan
Was not covered due to time restrictions
5. AOB
JFB and MH will discuss the future of this group and members will be advised of the outcomes.
Date of Next Meeting
25th Sept 2007, 10am – 12.30pm
Exe Room, Larkbeare House, Exeter
