The Low Carbon Hub is a social enterprise that’s out to prove we can meet our energy needs in a way that’s good for people and good for the planet.
It is made up of two organisations. The Low Carbon Hub IPS Limited owns community energy projects in Oxfordshire. Surpluses from the IPS are donated to the Low Carbon Hub CIC to support further local carbon-cutting initiatives.
The Low Carbon Hub IPS Limited is a Registered Society that’s owned by its investor Members and run for the benefit of the community.
The Low Carbon Hub CIC is owned by 27 low carbon community group shareholders. These groups are based across Oxfordshire and help ensure its operation is totally transparent and is guided by those it is set up to serve.
The Low Carbon Hub currently has 5.1 million shares in issue and is looking to issue a further 800,000 shares in this investment round of the Community Energy Fund, with a total of £4 million of equity issued over the next three years.
The Low Carbon Hub IPS Limited is the investment vehicle for their capital projects. The Low Carbon Hub Community Interest Company (CIC) holds the staff team, develops projects and works with communities to develop new approaches to community energy. Each is governed by a Board of Directors. The majority of Board Members sit on both Boards. However, two Board members act independently to vote on issues where there is a conflict of interest between the two organisations: these are Steve Drummond for the Low Carbon Hub IPS Limited and Sue Halliwell for the Low Carbon Hub CIC.
CEO, Director Low Carbon Hub IPS
Barbara Hammond
Barbara’s 25-year career in sustainable development and energy, including stints in local government, central government, the private sector and academe, gives her a very unusual ability to network across all of those sectors to build ‘coalitions of the willing’ to make projects happen. During her time in central Government she was responsible for the UK’s £350m renewable energy programme and the delivery of the UK’s first offshore wind farm, large-scale PV field trials, biomass generators and wave and tidal research programme. She is a pioneer in developing local, collective responses to climate change being founder and Director of Low Carbon Oxford, a city-wide partnership of leading corporations committed to reducing carbon emissions and founder and director of West Oxford Community Renewables Ltd and Osney Lock Hydro Ltd which together have raised around £1.5m for a range of community-owned solar and hydro projects. She advises UK Government as part of DECC’s Community Energy Contact Group and is Chair of its Community Hydro Working Group. She was awarded an MBE in 2015 for her services to the development of community energy.
Operations Director
Adriano Figueiredo
A Civil Engineer by training and highly experienced manager, Adriano has held senior positions in commercial businesses in the UK, Continental Europe and Latin America in sectors as diverse as education, industrial property development and heavy construction. An entrepreneur at heart, he has set up, developed and managed subsidiaries of UK businesses in Spain, Mexico and Brazil. He used this experience to co-found Oxford North Community Renewables (or ONCORE) to develop community renewable projects locally. As the Operations Director for the Low Carbon Hub, Adriano has a key role in defining the financial and operational strategies for the organisation, including evaluation of potential projects, the development process, project finance and on-going operation and management.
Chair
George Levvy
George has worked in the voluntary sector for 25 years. He was Head of Marketing & Communications at the British Red Cross for three years and then Chief Executive of the Motor Neurone Disease Association for 10 years. Since then he has been consulting, mostly to charities and other non-profit organisations, on strategy, governance, leadership and leadership teams. He has been a trustee of a number of charities, a Consultant at the Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness and was, for six years, a Visiting Fellow at Cass Business School. He has substantial breadth and depth of experience and knowledge of governance, leadership and management of charities and other non-profit organisations. George joined the Board in October 2017.
Treasurer
Luke Marion
Luke is a Chartered Accountant and the Finance and Commercial Director of the Oxford Bus Company, and its sister companies Thames Travel and Carousel Buses. In 2013, he helped Oxford Bus Company become the first local business to partner with the Hub, which led to a 140kw PV array being installed on the company’s depot premises in Cowley. Luke started his career with Ernst & Young before joining Reckitt Benckiser, where he spent 7 years in various Commercial Finance roles in the UK. He joined the Low Carbon Hub as non-executive treasurer early in 2015.
Investment Committee Chair and IPS independent
Steve Drummond
Steve has extensive experience in the energy sector. Starting as an engineer and then moving into finance, he has spent nearly 30 years working in nuclear, conventional and renewable energy power generation. Roles include power station design, operations and development in the Central Electricity Generating Board and its successors, Partner of Corporate Finance at PwC, and emissions trading, finance and global project development at Cantor Fitzgerald. Steve is now MD of Bainton Capital Partners Ltd, a boutique advisory firm that helps develop and finance renewable energy power projects around the world. Back in Oxford, he was one of the founding directors of Oxford North Community Renewables (or ONCORE) and developed the structure of the enterprise and the financial model to install community renewable projects in North Oxford.
Non executive board member
Tom Hoines
Tom heads the Commercial Renewables Department within Opus Energy, the sixth largest business supplier in the UK, who purchase power from over 2000 renewable generators across the country. Tom has worked on the supply side of the energy industry for 6 years, first with Co-operative Energy before moving to Opus in 2014. Tom joined the Low Carbon Hub as a non-executive Director early in 2016.
Oxford City Council
Tim Sadler
Tim is the Executive Director for City Services at the City Council where he leads a number of programmes including those in respect of environmental and social sustainability. With Sue Halliwell, Tim ensures that the Hub has good links into local government and has access to advice on local policy development.
Oxfordshire County Council and CIC independent
Sue Halliwell
Sue is Service Manager for Strategic Infrastructure and Planning Resources at Oxfordshire County Council overseeing strategic and policy development for a number of areas including the environment, low carbon community engagement and green infrastructure. Previously Sue has been involved in developing energy and resource management strategies both locally and nationally and established a centre of excellence for local authorities sharing best practice in business resource efficiency.
Non executive board member
Ramsay Dunning
Ramsay’s first involvement in community energy was in 2004 with the Gigha community-owned wind farm in Scotland. He was co-founder of Green Energy (UK) plc in 2001 and then Coop Energy in 2010, which he ran as Managing Director until July 2017. Ramsay remains involved with Coop Energy as a non-executive director. As part of Coop Energy, Ramsay set up the annual Community Energy Conference, now run with Community Energy England. Ramsay joined the Board in October 2017.
CIC Community Director
Nina Alphey
In 2018 the Low Carbon Hub CIC’s community shareholder groups elected Nina Alphey as their representative for a two-year term. Nina is a long-term member of Westmill Solar Co-operative Ltd and has been on its Board since 2016 and was an active member of low carbon community group Kidlington vs Climate Change until 2014. As Community Director on the Board, Nina’s main focus is on achieving benefit for our communities and representing the interests of the community shareholder groups. She is also interested in encouraging partnerships with academic institutions to support research, in particularly in relation to renewable energy and climate change mitigation.
Directors offer their services voluntarily with the exception of Barbara Hammond and Adriano Figueiredo who are employed by the Low Carbon Hub CIC.
The founding members hold a nominal shareholding of £1 each.
3 of 10 directors are female.
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