The next step in an environmental initiative launched in late January by the community interest company Ripon Together will be taken on Monday (February 27).

The not-for-profit organisation, which has 150 members, brings people together on projects that improve Ripon.

A meeting starting at 7pm in Thorpe Prebend House, High St Agnesgate, is open to all who want to make Ripon a better place to live through the reduction of carbon impacts.

On the agenda will be plans for a Green Fair in the summer and discussion to agree how to take forward work in the areas of energy efficiency and renewables, waste, recycling and litter and nature, biodiversity and access.

Simon Hewitt, a Ripon Together director, said:

“The first meeting was great.  It was really well attended and lots of good ideas emerged.  We want to start real action to take those forward.

“That is what the second meeting is for and why we want as many people and bodies as possible to get there.  It would be great if people could spread the word and let us have their ideas on these issues either at the meeting or by emailing info@ripontogether.com”.

Mr Hewitt added:

“Lots of people are already doing their bit, whether it is litter-picking, recycling, path clearance or reducing their use of plastic or other packaging.  Ripon Together wants to bring groups together to make this even better, encourage more volunteering and tackle new challenges.”

Since the first meeting on January 30,  Ripon Together has bid for funding for a feasibility study into placing solar panels on many of the city’s schools and installing more charging points for electric vehicles.

When Peter Kavanagh gave up a career in finance to set up a wind energy company 13 years ago, some thought he had lost his marbles. He says:

“A lot of people said to me ‘you are wasting your time, wind turbines don’t generate money, you’re crazy’. I wanted to prove them wrong and it felt like the right thing to do for the next generation.”

Mr Kavanagh, 44, now runs Knaresborough firm Harmony Energy, which employs 33 staff and acts as the ultimate advisor to London-listed Harmony Energy Income Trust PLC, which is valued at £274 million.

The company operates wind, solar and battery energy storage systems and has relationships with companies like Tesla.

It has schemes in New Zealand and France as well as the UK, where one of its projects involves developing a battery storage facility at Wormald Green, between Ripon and Harrogate, which will have the capacity to power 9,000 homes. Work on the site is due to start this year and the firm would like to also build a solar farm there.

Not only has Mr Kavanagh proved the doubters wrong, he has also given investors the chance to behave ethically while generating a return on their money.

But for all the talk of the climate crisis and soaring energy bills, the battle to establish renewable energy has been far from straightforward.

Mr Kavanagh cites connectivity to the grid as the main ‘blocker’. He says a lot of development projects fail simply because the grid is full and they can’t connect.

Grid connection, planning issues and land agreements are the three essential issues when choosing sites, he says. Harmony negotiates sites and employs four project managers plus experts in fields such as law, finance and asset management to oversee progress.

Harmony Energy’s battery energy storage system at Pillswood, near Hull.

There’s also the slight matter of trying to wean the nation off fossil fuel companies, which continue to generate billions of pounds of profit and benefit from relationships built up with government over years.

Harmony has shifted its focus from wind to battery energy storage systems because of a change in the political climate since it was founded. Mr Kavanagh explains:

“Because of planning rules in England it’s almost impossible to build a wind farm in England now.

“In 2016 we were submitting planning for a completely unsubsidised development but pulled it because at the time David Cameron changed the rules on planning which pretty much made that sort of development impossible, which is frustrating because had we and others been able to develop at the time then going into this energy crisis England would have been in a much better position.”

He admits wind is “contentious” but says recent survey since the war in Ukraine started suggests more people support it, adding:

“If I was in government — obviously I’m slightly biased — I’d be saying ‘let’s build as much unsubsidised renewable energy as we can, look at land use, but look at it as a whole’. Even if we used up all the land for large scale solar requirements, for example, the stats published by national bodies say we would only use three per cent of the overall land mass.

“It makes sense because we desperately need energy bills to come down because businesses are going bust left, right and centre.”

Battery energy

Battery energy is the main focus now. So far, Mr Kavanagh has overseen the development of 500 megawatts of battery energy storage systems in the UK with the Harmony group. Harmony is Tesla’s biggest customer in Europe, having been ordering its batteries since 2016.

Harmony’s largest scheme is at Pillswood, which employs a Tesla two-hour megapack system that has the capacity to store up to 196 megawatt hours of electricity in a single cycle. This is enough electricity to power about 300,000 UK homes for two hours.

He says batteries are “the key to unlocking the potential of other renewable technologies, including solar” because they enable electricity to be stored until it is needed by the grid.

Because wind and sunshine aren’t predictable, they produce intermittent energy. Batteries can stabilise and balance this outflow of electricity and ensure it is used more effectively.

Read more:

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Harmony uses lithium batteries, made of 93% recycled content, says Mr Kavanagh.

The company was floated on the London stock exchange in November 2021 with a market capitalisation of £210 million. Its value has since soared to £274 million.

Its latest set of accounts, for the year ending December 31, 2021 showed a £33m profit compared to a £1m loss in the previous year.

Mr Kavanagh acknowledges this financial transformation was largely due to the stock market listing but adds 2022 was “another good year for us” and talks about hiring more staff and exploring new markets in Germany, Italy and Poland.

‘Not all about the money’

It is easy to be cynical about combining ethics and profit but Mr Kavanagh insists he is “100% not all about money”. He says investors appreciate the chance to support renewables and it’s hard to dispute the fact the planet needs change to survive.

He says the company tries to behave ethically in other ways, for instance it did not furlough any staff during covid and refused business rate relief from Harrogate Borough Council during the pandemic.

“I said ‘you should not be handing free rates out willy-nilly. Morally I felt it was the right thing to do and I wish others had done the same because the bill from covid will cripple the economy.”

Harmony, which is based at Conyngham Hall and also had an office in London’s Bond Street, supports various local good causes, including Henshaws, Candlelighters and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It sponsors the Harrogate 10k race — an event keen runner Mr Kavanagh took part in last year. The firm also has a community fund supporting green schemes in areas where it operates.

Harmony is based at Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough.

Mr Kavanagh, a father-of-two, also tries to live ethically. His home in Birstwith is “predominantly powered by solar”, he owns an electric vehicle and travels by train when possible.

He also follows a plant-based diet, although this is partly a legacy of being diagnosed with bowel cancer when he was 29.

That experience played a major role in his change of career direction after a decade in finance. He says:

“You can make a return but do it in the right way. That’s the ethos we are trying to get through on Harmony. We are trying to build infrastructure without any support from the UK taxpayers, that’s as green as it possibly can be so it’s not only environmentally sustainable but from a financial point of view.”

Mr Kavanagh is also a director of Jones Food Company, Europe’s largest high care hydroponics facility now majority owned by the Ocado Group, and is an early-stage investor in several green tech companies outside of Harmony.

Despite the challenges. he says the tide is turning and he is optimistic about the future of renewable energy.

“We are minnows compared to big boys like EDF but a key advantage is that we are nimble and can move quickly.

“That’s why our focus will always be primarily on energy storage because it’s such a huge need. Anywhere that has a lot of intermittent energy will require lots of storage.”

He says if you can build a solar farm in North Yorkshire without any taxpayers’ support you can build one anywhere in Europe and it was looking to work with “trusted partners” in new areas on the continent. He says:

“The UK will always be our core market but we see lots of potential in Europe.

“Being a small part of the solution is what drives us. If we can be 10% of the market in 10 years time I will be very happy.”

Residents in Scotton are mobilising against plans to build a solar farm the size of 150 football pitches that they believe will spoil their picturesque village.

UK energy firm Gridserve is behind a proposal to build the solar farm on fields belonging to Lawrence Moor Farm.

Thousands of solar panels would generate up to 49.9 megawatts of green energy that could power up to 14,000 homes.

The village on the outskirts of Knaresborough has a population of around 600 people.

Scotton resident Richard Tallis, who has lived in the village for 12 years, has distributed leaflets to villagers and said 165 people have responded to say they are opposed to the plans.

Two public footpaths would be surrounded by solar panels if they were passed.

Mr Tallis said:

“We’re not against solar farms, just put them in the right places.

“Agricultural land should be used for agricultural purposes.

“There’s a strength of opinion around the village opposing it.”

Read More:

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The main site where Gridserve wants to put the solar panels is bound by the narrow country roads Low Moor Lane and High Moor Lane. It is also opposite the village primary school.

Mr Tallis said he fears the roads are ill-equipped to cope with eight months of construction traffic whilst the site is built.

He said he is not a “NIMBY” but feels that solar farms should be built on the edge of motorways and away from residential areas.

“I accept there will always be people that criticise us for opposing it.

“But there are other sites that are more suitable, not on the edge of a picturesque green village.”

Net-zero

This morning the UK government published its flagship energy strategy. It wants the country to produce most of the energy it uses through renewables.

It says the UK will increase current solar capacity by five times before 2035.

A spokesperson for Gridserve said:

“Matters of proximity, visual impact and access throughout the construction and operation of the Scotton solar farm will be integral parts of the forthcoming planning and design process.

“We hope we are able to proceed with the next design phases in an open, collaborative approach that involves members of the local community and other statutory and non-statutory stakeholders”