Bro Dyfi Community Renewables came about through the shared interest of local people in and around the town of Machynlleth in mid-Wales in creating a local renewable energy ownership scheme.

Supported by grant funding, ethical investors and some very committed individuals, BDCR has delivered two projects that are a direct community response to climate change.

The bonus on top of carbon-free and renewable generation in the locality is that we as a community can also benefit from its financial returns, both as individual investors and through the contribution annually to local regeneration organisation ecodyfi.

Why did we do it?

Because as a community we care. We care about the environment, we care about people, and we care about our lives now and in the future.

BDCR is a direct product of a local community’s collective will to help the planet, mankind and our community.

The Dyfi Valley has burgeoned with green ideas and initiatives in the past three decades as environmental issues have come to the fore.

The original idea for a community wind turbine came from a local resident in 2000 who at that time was a voluntary Director of the Baywind Energy Co-op and had professional experience of developing wind energy.

She worked for the Machynlleth-based renewable energy company Dulas Ltd but wanted the community itself to develop and own a scheme.

The prospect was received enthusiastically by the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), who at that time would potentially consume the power from the wind turbine, such that an innovative demonstration of renewable energy development would provide educational benefits to its visitors while securing a renewable electricity supply.

Advice on process and potential grant aid was provided from the beginning by two professionals living locally: one employed by the local community regeneration group (ecodyfi) and the other by the local Powys Energy Agency (now part of SWEA).

The former was running an EC-funded umbrella project to stimulate community-based renewable energy schemes.

These people met with two other interested local individuals to work out what might be possible and how to move a potential scheme forward, including holding a first public meeting in Pantperthog Village Hall.

The rest, they say is history… as we explain on the How We Did It page!