reMooable Energy
Our reMooable project is transforming Our Cow Molly, Eddie Andrew’s family farm, into an energy producer for the city of Sheffield alongside its food production.
Our Cow Molly is a farm with a long history of diversifying; from being a dairy farm to becoming an ice-cream producer and local education centre.
The reMooable project continues this evolution and will transform the family farm into an energy producer for the city of Sheffield whilst it continues as a dairy farm.
Our project capitalises on the farm’s reputation as an innovator for sustainable farming practice, using this to grow local support for a community owned initiative that will invest back into Sheffield.
Why are we doing it?
We believe in…
Increasing community wealth
By giving local people the opportunity to invest in clean energy and support a local business, through Community Share Offers.
Decarbonising agriculture
Not only will this project help the farm to move away from direct fossil fuel usage, it’ll also help the farm to decarbonise in otherways. For example, the by-product of the anaerobic digester (digestate) can be used as a naturally high-nutrient fertiliser, replacing the need for energy-intensive artificial fertiliser to be bought in.
Leading the way to net zero
We know its hard for a lot of businesses to start on the net zero journey - we’re creating a blueprint for a modular, replicable strategy for ourselves, partners and others to recreate across South Yorkshire and beyond.
So what’s happening now?
To recap, we’re working with farmer Eddie Andrew and family to decarbonise the dairy, by installing clean energy assets which will power the farm. So far, we’ve undertaken a feasibility study to show validity of the project, which was funded by the Department for Energy Security’s Net Zero initiative. We’ve also raised over £20,000 to cover project management costs with a crowdfunder supported by the Aviva Community Fund.
Our first phase will focus on transitioning the farm to clean energy, using roof mounted solar photo-voltaics and an anaerobic digester (to process cow muck), providing heat and power to the dairy. The second phase will introduce ground-mounted solar and wind turbines. This will create the opportunity to start selling power to customers - specifically in the form of hydrogen, which is increasingly being used by local industry and construction sectors as they decarbonise.
SY Ecofit CIC and partners have established the Community Benefit Society Sheffield Energy Work as a legal entity to enable community investment and asset procurement. Sheffield Energy Works is now in the process of developing the Community Share Offer, so that we can procure the assets needed to power the site.
Click the link below to be the first to hear when we launch our Community Share Offer later this year.
The long term plan