As a participant in this Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) programme, we recently applied for funding for an Energy Master Plan for Galway.

The aim of this plan is to identify energy saving opportunities and promote community action, For a more detailed description of the plan, see seai.ie.

We have held a number of Community outreach events in Westside and Ballybane to recruit and encourage more communities to participate in our SEC or to set up their own.

We completed a comprehensive payback analysis for heating systems on behalf of a Housing Co-operative. The conclusions of this report, most of which are now implemented, include putting heat pumps into the housing estate. The project involved engaging with and educating stakeholders.

Collaborative Projects

Galway Energy Cooperative is involved in STEPS - STorage of Energy & Power Systems in NWE. This is a Northwest Europe Interreg funded project which is very important for storage of renewables and for the future sustainability of Ireland, the UK and Europe.

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GEC is collaborating as Community Outreach Champion with a proposal put forward by NUIG experts, Dr Pau Farras and Dr Paolo Dessi. Their proposal, HyBioSol, involves converting CO2 containing effluents to biofuels (i.e., ethanol and/or butanol) and/or chemical commodities (i.e., acetic and butyric acid), or bioplastics.

This is part of the Science Foundation Ireland programme: Zero Emission Challenge.

GEC has been instrumental in setting up a multi-stakeholder Hydrogen Team for the West Coast of Ireland.

GEC has been instrumental in setting up a multi-stakeholder Hydro Power Team for Galway.

As part of a German Government programme, our cooperative is twinned with another cooperative in Pfaffenhofen in Bavaria.

While visiting the town on an ideas-sharing trip in September 2019, we observed a range of projects including a community-owned wind turbine, a biogas producing farm, a biomass fuelled eco-brewery, a large biomass facility, the local electricity and utility company, and historic electricity-producing water wheel. We also explored how the Pfaffenhofen cooperative grew to its current size.

We are looking forward to the return visit of the Pfaffenhofen cooperative to Galway in June 2020.