Here, he writes a blog about how attending GwyrddNi’s Community Assemblies on the Climate led to him being a director at Ynni Llŷn, and tells us about the programmes they’ve been working on this year.
Energy groups at the Climate Assemblies
About three years ago I received a letter asking if I would like to join a movement called GwyrddNi. The letter asked if I was interested in the environment and if I would be willing to attend assemblies to with other members of the community. It sounded interesting so I signed up.
A number of us formed an energy and transport sub-group. This sub-group met on a few separate occasions and we generated ideas to go into the GwyrddNi action plan.
During the final assembly we were encouraged take positive action so our sub-group met again and we decided to use Ynni Llŷn as vehicle to deliver our best ideas.
Joining the board of Ynni Llŷn
At that time Ynni Llŷn was listed with Companies House and it had a bank account but it was relatively dormant. Prior to the pandemic, Ynni Llŷn had significant successes, installing the first community solar array in Wales at Sarn Meyllteyrn and commissioning several reports into energy generation and transmission on the Llŷn. Like many companies, the pandemic had a negative impact on Ynni Llŷn and so it was ripe for a fresh injection of ideas and enthusiasm.
An AGM was held on 24th June 2023 in which the board of directors were nominated and agreed. Funding was already being sought via the ARFOR2 programme administered by Gwynedd Council and other funding options were also discussed. In effect, this was the start of our Retrofit for All and Well & Warm projects.
6 out of 7 of the board members were now people who had met through the GwyrddNi Community Assemblies on the Climate and had chosen Energy as their main focus. We also created a WhatsApp group to keep “members” up to date – this was anyone who had been part of the assemblies who wanted to learn what we were up to.
Jon at Pen Llŷn’s Community Assemblies on the Climate
Retrofit for All and other projects
It was important for us that we created good jobs for local, Welsh-speaking people, which is exactly what the ARFOR2 grant is for. As well as that, we took out a loan from the Robert Owen Community Bank so that we could get started with recruiting people right away.
As directors, none of us draw any salary; we decided together that any profit we make will go to employing local people or towards projects that benefit the community.
Retrofit for All aims to generate local skilled jobs to insulate homes, improve heating systems, generate on-site electricity and deliver a net-zero and carbon free future for Pen Llŷn. Retrofit means upgrading existing buildings to be more energy-efficient.
We have been able to fund training for our staff members, who all hail from around Mynytho and Botwnnog, to become qualified Energy Advisors and, for one of them, a Retrofit Assessor.
This is important because often the people with these qualifications drive all the way from Cardiff or London in order to do an assessment on a house. We thought – why shouldn’t local people be given the opportunity to learn skills that will become even more important in the future? We also use local trade people to install the energy saving measures whenever possible.
We have since become partners on other projects: Prosiect Sero Net Gwynedd, Well & Warm, Cartrefi Clyd and Cyd Ynni (see more information here). These projects complement each other and are primarily focused on helping the local community with cost-of-living pressures, fuel poverty and improving the energy efficiency of their homes.
Well & Warm and Prosiect Sero Net Gwynedd offer free energy advice and home visits to help people with aspects such as payment of energy bills, claiming benefits and making improvements to their homes. Retrofit for All is a service whereby Ynni Llŷn can provide home energy assessments, retrofit advice and contractor project management.
Being a not-for-profit company we are able to offer a high-quality service with strong links to the community. We believe that we are one of the only not-for-profit retrofit companies operating in Wales, possibly in the UK.
The Ynni Llŷn team at Sioe Nefyn this year
What we’ve learnt… and what’s next!
Starting (or re-staring) a company isn’t easy! As a board, we have had to contend all kinds of challenges. It requires a great deal of drive and dedication, especially when people are working on a voluntary basis. Obtaining funding isn’t easy but it’s just the first step, there are many hurdles to navigate after receiving the funds. We are very fortunate to have a brilliant team of directors that have helped steer the company to this point. It has also been extremely encouraging to see our staff develop in their roles and we have a full programme of training/personal development for all our employees.
Now that we have recruited a full team and the first wave of training has been delivered, we are in a position to start work installing energy saving measures to homes on the Llŷn. We have been providing energy advice for some time now but we aim to strengthen our networks in order to help many more residents. That is why we are here, it’s our reason for being, we want to help as many people in our community as possible.
Ynni Llŷn is also the delivery partner for GwyrddNi in Pen Llŷn, so we are also working alongside Dafydd to support his work in bringing the ideas in the Action Plans to life. We’re lucky to have recruited people who are passionate about engaging local schools and delivering education about energy, so we’re hoping that our team will be able to support GwyrddNi’s work more going forward.
See more at https://www.ynnillyn.cymru/ or follow Ynni Llŷn on Facebook or Instagram!