Category: Renewable energy

Hockerton Housing Project has been hosting tours for over ten years, showing over 20,000 people around the Project and its homes to help them understand how homes and communities can meet the energy and environmental challenges of the 21st century.

The most frequent visitors come from our local universities in Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Loughborough and Lincoln but we’re keen to see more – both from other universities and from a greater range of courses.  Our Project is not just about the housing or the technical infrastructure; it can be used to illustrate a range of studies including the politics of communities and the role of sustainability in health services.

Feedback suggests a visit to us can really inspire students…

Thanks again for a great day and for inspiring my students!

Reader in Environmental Geography, Geography Department,University of Leicester

It was a super experience and the students were buzzing all the way home.

Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham

Many thanks for another superb visit.  It gives the students a real insight into the options for more sustainable living and really gives them something to think about.

Queen Elizabeth High School for Girls

I’d just like to thank you personally for inviting us in your homes and inspiring future generations with your amazing work. It was such a productive experience as we got to see everything we’ve been taught in our module in real life.  I thought it was all just theory but to see it up and running and so successful gave me great joy.

Engineering student, Loughborough University

We’ve prepared a short guide to these visits for lecturers and teachers, and are keen to hear from lecturers how you think we could help you bring sustainability to life in your classroom or through a visit to Hockerton Housing Project.

The Sustainable Hockerton community-owned wind turbine continues to turn a profit! Members of the Society have received payments of 8% interest and there is enough money left in the bank to donate £10,000 to the village to pursue sustainability and energy saving projects. Not bad for the second year of full operation! The most frequent quote from investors was “I only wish I had invested more!”

If you would like help with setting up a community wind turbine project please contact us.

The residents of Hockerton Housing Project have installed another community-owned solar PV system. This will expand the PV generation by the co-operative from 7.6kW to 13.6kW and make the site a net exporter of electricity.

We decided to install additional capacity as our current energy use is higher than originally expected, due to the number of people working in our business or from home.  The additional capacity also prepares us for electric vehicles.

Conversations have started about going off-grid.  It seems that the risks to grid supply do not outweigh the environmental and financial costs of batteries… for now.

Two wind turbines have popped up around HHP. Patrick, an organic farmer in Hockerton, has installed a Gaia 11kW and another local farmer has erected an Enercon E33 near Eakring. SYNERGY the transition group in our neighbouring town of Southwell is also working on plans to put up a community owned Enercon E33 south of the town at Brackenhurst (part of Nottingham Trent University).

Closer to home Sustainable Hockerton’s turbine the Vestas V29 has had a fantastic December with well over 50 000 kWh produced! – A record for one single month. At over 23p per unit that makes a good income for the village! Whether community owned or farmer led wind harvesting seems to be catching on around us.

Hockerton’s community-owned wind turbine is beginning to reap financial rewards for both its shareholders and the village. It has just paid out its first interest payment to members of 5%, only 18 months after production started. It has also made money available to the village.

You can find out more of what Sustainable Hockerton have done on their web site and a take part video.