Cratloe Community Council, which is registered as a Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), is a member of an energy co-op which has been shortlisted as a finalist in the SEAI Energy Awards 2022.
Cratloe SEC is a member of Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative CLG (ECTC). The SEAI Energy Awards recognise and reward excellence in all aspects of energy efficiency and renewable energy. ECTC is a community led, home insulation upgrade and retrofitting organisation.
There are ten different categories in the awards and ECTC have been shortlisted in the Inspirational Energy Community. “This award is for members of the SEAI Sustainable Energy Communities Network. It will recognise the inspirational efforts of teams leading a sustainable energy community that go beyond the norm through a combination of ambition, passion and commitment.”
Tom Golden of Cratloe Sustainable Energy Community said, “ Support in reducing our household energy use was never more critical. It is great for us in Cratloe to have ECTC as a trusted partner who provide direction to help our community members make the right choices in housing energy upgrades. Anyone in Clare interested in grant aided support for their energy retrofit can contact us at sustainablecratloe@gmail.com.”
The announcement is a recognition of the work and effort by Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative and their member communities, and underlines their commitment to a sustainable model for the benefit of the environment and communities. To date ECTC has overseen the investment of over €13 million in communities, with 890 homes and 34 Community & Commercial buildings having energy upgrades and retrofit work carried out.
This has resulted in energy savings of 10,500,000 KWh (10.5 GWh), the equivalent of boiling a kettle for 10 minutes more than 4 million times. All of this is presided over by a volunteer board of community directors. As a not-for-profit company, ECTC’s mission is to allow communities to create local employment and community benefit through reducing their carbon footprint and generating community-owned energy.
Liam Lynch, Chair of ECTC said “”On behalf of the board of directors, we are delighted to have been shortlisted for the Inspirational Energy Community award by the SEAI. It’s a recognition of the huge amount of time and effort that the volunteers from our 15 member communities have put in over the last 10 years to make ECTC the success that it is today.”
Previously in 2017 ECTC was the winner of the National SEAI Best Community Energy Initiative Award. Final judging will now take place, and winners will be announced on Friday the 7th of October. To learn more about Energy Communities Tipperary Cooperative or to express your interest in a home retrofit visit www.energycommunitiestipp.ie.