New Directors and an update on our project

Some of our Directors, who’d been with us since the start of KCE way back in 2016, have recently decided to take a step back as they move into retirement or take on full time jobs. We’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Nick Coates, Alistair Singleton, Richard Dyson and Liz Barling for the many hours of dedicated effort, expertise, support and enthusiasm over the years.

We have also welcomed four new fantastic Directors. Matt Green has worked in the renewables industry for almost 20 years, Tom Radford is a Business Systems Manager bringing an analytical, data driven approach to project management, Will Trueman has over 30 years finance and accountancy experience, and Matt Berry is a senior industrial decarbonisation engineer at sustainable engineering consultancy, Ramboll. Together, we’ve been working hard to drive the leisure centre project forward.

We are working with B&NES and the leisure centre operator Better to put a solar array on the leisure centre roof. Better will buy the electricity generated at a discounted price, which will keep their operating costs down. Surplus electricity will be sold back to the grid. All profits made will go into a community benefit fund for Keynsham community groups and charities to do projects that tackle the climate emergency and fuel poverty.

We’re working very closely with established community energy company Bath and West Community Energy, leaning on their expertise to help us navigate the really tricky job of getting this project up and running. Our Directors all work full time, and sometimes it’s felt like an uphill struggle keeping all the plates spinning. But… we’re almost at the top of the mountain, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing the view when we get there!