About Ownpower

Ownpower Renewables was formed in 2013 by three colleagues who had worked together developing clean energy solutions in the UK, Sweden and Germany.

The Directors

Keith Boxer

Keith is a founding partner of Ownpower. He has been involved in the development of wind energy projects with community benefit since starting the Baywind Energy Co-operative in Barrow-in-Furness in the early 1990’s. He was initially trained as an architect and has worked on renewables and sustainable building projects in Sweden, Germany and the UK for over 25 years. He now lives with his wife and family in the North of England.

Ken Halliday

Ken is a Chartered Landscape Architect and is also a founding partner of Stephenson Halliday landscape architects, based in Kendal. He has over 25 years professional experience of planning applications and environmental assessments of wind energy projects and other forms of rural development. He has particular expertise in the landscape and visual impact of wind energy developments. In addition to the Bankdale project he has advised on over 170 wind farms and other renewable energy proposals throughout the UK.

Andreas Wickman

Andreas is one of the most experienced community windpower pioneers in Europe. He has worked extensively on the planning and development of wind energy projects, both on and offshore, in Scandinavia and the UK. He was responsible for the development of Sweden’s first offshore wind farm sited in the Baltic Sea, which was repowered in 2018. Together with Keith Boxer he developed the UK’s first community-owned wind farm at Harlock Hill near Ulverston in Cumbria.

Charting the turbulent history of Community Energy in the UK

The ownership of renewable energy systems by community organisations in the UK grew dramatically between 2011 and 2015 but in the last few years has come to a shuddering halt. Few new systems are being installed and in 2017 there was only one new group formed. What caused the growth and why has it stopped? In this report, published by the Green European Foundation with the support of Green House Think Tank, Anne Chapman of Green House tells the story of the ups and downs of community energy in the UK, from the first co-operatively-owned wind farm in 1996, the setting up of low carbon communities groups in the first decade of this century, to the installation of renewable energy systems using funds from community share offers and the current search for new business models.

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