Earlier this month, Suella hosted the Solent Business Forum that was attended by representatives from over 20 local organisations. Suella’s Solent Business Forum offers local businesses with an opportunity to gain insights into how local companies are making a difference. The event also provides a valuable occasion for networking with key businesses in the area. The event saw Ollie Pendered, Chief Executive of Community Energy South, deliver the key speech. Ollie’s insightful speech touched on the fascinating work that Community Energy South has been up to, with a focus on the mobilisation of community funding for a more reliable and sustainable community.
Community Energy South was set up in 2013 with the goal of bringing communities together to reduce energy use and to purchase, manage and generate low carbon heat and power. Community Energy South provides a bespoke catalyst for local communities enabling them to benefit from expert advice that puts pack into local communities. By facilitating the collective action of communities on a localised level, Community Energy South enables communities to set up their own sustainable energy infrastructure. In addition to this, their technological expertise ensures that communities can rely on the projects that they deliver.
Along with guests of the Solent Business Forum, Suella was very impressed by Ollie’s successful business model that aids our global mission towards net zero at an impressively effective grassroots level. Through the success of Community Energy South’s story, Suella was pleased to see that attendees were very receptive to the idea of pitching services that enhance local communities through collective community funding. Ollie’s encouraging talk emphasized the need for businesses to give back to the communities in which they operate.
Following almost ten years of successfully aiding local communities in establishing crowd-sourced green energy, Ollie is continuing to improve local energy supplies and to connect communities together. Community Energy South has recently been engaging with the climate change team at Hampshire County Council on their climate pathways programme to help establish more Hampshire-based cooperatives to deliver renewable energy.
If your business would like to be involved in the next Solent Business Forum, please contact Suella Braverman’s parliamentary office.
Commenting Suella said:
“It was wonderful to meet with the many thriving businesses from across the Solent region and I’m glad the forum provided local professionals with a good opportunity to connect with each other. We were very lucky to hear from Ollie Pendered, his speech not only exemplified the crucial work Community Energy South has undertaken to help communities establish self-funded green energy, but also emphasized and encouraged businesses to look towards their communities to pitch funding opportunities that will improve the areas they operate in.”
