In 2010, TTW had been around for about two years, Transition Town Taunton were doing some great work with the local councils, writes Kate Holloway.

Two of their members, Chrissie Godfrey and Paul Birch led a number of workshops to help councillors and members of the public imagine what a low carbon world might look like and consider the impacts of climate change. I was at that meeting held in Wellington and thought I would take a look at some of the positive changes that have occurred in the last 15 years and compare it to what we imagined.

This month we are looking at energy. Back in 2010, it was hoped that many homes would be generating their own power by 2025 and to some extent this has taken place. There has been a growth in the number of buildings in Wellington with solar panels on the roof; although there was a lull in the installation of panels once the government took away the Feed in Tariff, the advent of much cheaper batteries means that it has made financial sense to have solar installed again. This growth was also instigated by the hike in energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, which I am sure no one could have imagined in 2010.

The number of new homes with solar panels has also jumped significantly and this will increase with new building regulations coming into force. In Scotland comparable regulations meant 80 per cent of new homes are now fitted with solar panels, it is a shame that we have had so many homes built in Wellington before the new regulations have come into force.

It was imagined back in 2010 that there might be a wind farm on the top of the Blackdown Hills, maybe alongside the Wellington Monument. On-shore wind power continues to be controversial. The Monument is restored but wind power is yet to establish locally.

Water Power was mentioned as something that could be supplying power to homes locally from all of the waterways we have in Wellington. TTW were involved around 2010 with looking at the possibility of an Archimedes screw at one of the weirs near the Fox’s factory. This could have delivered power to local houses, unfortunately that never happened and it’s possible that water power is an under used resource. A quick trawl of the internet would suggest that setting up small hydroelectric schemes are fraught with complications, and it may be difficult to get the National Grid to accept power from such a scheme, so it would need to be delivered straight to local properties.

I am not sure there are any figures available for the solar power generated by homes in Wellington itself, but electricity generated by renewables in the country as a whole is now at the 50 per cent dreamed of back in 2010 and growing; as renewables become cheaper than carbon-based energy systems, a hugely positive thing.

Next month we will look at the next section of the 2010 report entitled - Homes.