The current board is a transitional board, for the purposes of setting up the Co-operative, running the share issue and overseeing the installation of the solar array. Board elections from the new membership will be held at the first AGM in June 2012.
Director: Ann Gwenllian Ashley
Ann is a founder member and chair of Transition Leominster, a local environmental group. At home she has had a ground mounted solar photovoltaic system installed last year and has been very happy with the output from it. She has also already planted over 6,000 trees on land surrounding her home, as part of her personal commitment to tackling climate change. She sees the Leominster Community Solar project as “A wonderful first step in creating a Leominster resilient in the face of an oil depleted future”.
Director: Eithne Marie George
Eithne is a director of Sharenergy as well as LCSC and lives in Shrewsbury. Her background is in renewable energy and sustainability policy work, when she worked as an in-house advisor on construction at Cambridge City Council before moving to the Marches. In this capacity she took a leading role in developing challenging new environmental performance standards for large developments and worked with planners to ensure renewable energy was maximised and sensibly incorporated into planning proposals. Prior to this she was one of three co-founders of The Hub, a shared office space for people starting up social and environmental businesses. This started in London in 2005 and there are now 28 Hubs worldwide. Eithne has project managed the LCSC project since its inception and will continue in this role until the solar array is installed.
Director: Ben Michel Whittle
Ben lives near Kington with his family and formerly managed the Herefordshire Branch of Southern Solar. His interest in renewable energy started 10 years ago, and he has worked on all aspects of both solar thermal and photovoltaic projects including design, installation and project management. During his time at Southern Solar Hereford branch he has overseen projects ranging from village halls through to schools and housing associations, and assisted in the management of some very large PV installations. He now works as a technical manager, helping to oversee company training in design of solar systems for new employees. “I have what I think is a realistic approach to renewable energy: I believe we will need a multi-discipline approach to our sources of energy in the future. However I feel the UK needs to significantly improve its current commitment to energy sourcing from renewables, and projects like this will help keep the renewable energy agenda in the mind of the local community and show what is possible”.
Company Secretary: Jon Halle
Jon is a founder Director of Sharenergy. A lifelong environmentalist and former CTO of an Internet startup, he has worked setting up renewable energy co-operatives for the last 10 years, notably with Goldenfuels in Oxfordshire and Energy4All in the West Midlands. Jon provides admin support and co-operatives expertise to the project.