December 10, 2020

Thank you to everyone that attended our Sustainable Academy Spotlight last week (03 December) in partnership with Renewable UK Cymru and to our past award winners Meleri Davies, Paul Allen and Grant Peisley and our headline sponsor, Sarah Williams, who all shared their progress over the past 12 months and insights into future ambitions and projects. 

Sarah Williams, Wales & West Utilities – Headline sponsor of Sustainable Academy Awards 

Sarah Williams shared Wales & West Utilities sustainable plan for the future, including four key business areas that Wales & West Utilities is currently developing: 

1. Investing in green gases – hydrogen and biomethane
2. Delivering a net-zero ready gas network by 2035
3. Committing to zero to landfill by 2035 
4. Increasing electric vehicle use

The organisation is keen to speak to any partners that would like to form a green panel. Please email sarah.williams@wwutilities.co.uk if you’d like to be included.

Meleri Davies, Partneriaeth Ogwen – Winner of Sustainability Champion 2019 

Last year’s Sustainability Champion winner, Meleri Davies shared details of her hometown in the beautiful Ogwen Valley and the Partneriaeth Ogwen enterprise which seeks to bring together the economy, language and culture, the environment, society and sustainability. 

Over the past twelve months, the project has grown in strength and size, taking over the community library where various sustainable measures are in place, including edible plants on the land, utilising renewable energy and the use of an electric car.  

She shared more about Ynni Ogwen, which is a project that produces electricity from hydroelectric power from Afon Ogwen and finally, ideas for developing a future plan for sustainable tourism in the area. 

Learn more about their work here: www.partneriaethogwen.cymru 

Paul Allen – Centre for Alternative Technology – winner of the Special Award 2019 

Winner of the Special Award 2019 for his dedication and work with the Centre for Alternative Technology, Paul discussed the cycle of demand for renewable energy and the policies and measures that could be put in place for people to understand and action zero-carbon solutions.

He touches on the importance of Carbon Literacy training to all people in leadership in Wales and also the importance of citizen engagement with local Councils on the declaration of a climate emergency and related action plans. 

Click here to find out more about CAT’s work and Zero Carbon Britain. 

Grant Peisley, YnNi Teg – winner of Outstanding Renewable Energy Project 2018 

Our 2018 winner of Outstanding Renewable Energy Project, Grant Peisley, Director of the community wind turbine project YnNi Teg delves into the success of the project over the past 12 months. 

He shares that 2000 tonnes of Co2 has been saved since 2016 and that a total of 16,000 tonnes will be saved over its lifetime. Also, Grant shared the organisations latest campaign ‘pants powered by wind’ which received the away for Best Community Energy photo of the year.

YnNi Teg’s current goal is to develop more similar projects across Wales, starting with the Bretton Hall project which is in the works for 2023. Grant is working on raising £30million in order to complete the plan for building a solar farm. 

It was great to see so many faces to celebrate action towards a more sustainable Wales. We hope that next year we will be able to hold the Sustainable Academy Awards again. If you would like to keep up to date with the awards, please visit www.sustainableacademy.wales and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for regular news and updates.