BVGEC - May 2020 Update

Bow Valley Green Energy Cooperative

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hamper “normal” life in the Bow Valley and things begin to slowly open up, the team at Bow Valley Green Energy Cooperative (BVGEC) wishes the best for you and your families during these times.

During the last month, in order to streamline governance (and spread the workload amongst our volunteer base), a number of working subcommittees were struck by the board:

• Finance and Administration

  • This committee, chaired by Karena Thieme, is currently working on assessing business insurance options, preparing investment policies and procedures, and finetuning operational and financial models.

• Communications and Promotions

  • This committee, chaired by Jodi Conuel, is busy creating a branding and communications package for BVGEC and increasing our social media presence.

• Governance

  • This committee, chaired by Don MacDiarmid, is drafting our bylaws ready for consideration and adoption by our members at our first AGM.

• Membership and Stake Holder Engagement

  • This committee, chaired by Sue Hayduk, is finalizing our membership application forms and detailing goals and strategies for membership recruitment.

• Technology and Business Development

  • This committee, chaired by Joey O’Brien, is currently seeking volunteers interested in 1) keeping tabs on emerging renewable energy technologies and 2) engaging with potential hosts.

• Project Development

  • This committee, chaired by Kamyar Emami, is developing our project tracking process and will be responsible for all activities related to project implementation.

As a group, we continue to work with a number of prospective hosts/partners on potential green energy projects.

We have begun to analyze the results from our initial 'Getting Involved' survey. We intend to report back our results to our connect community soon. Thanks to everyone who took part!

Finally, we are supporting an initiative undertaken by the Ottawa Renewable Energy Cooperative aimed at advancing federal government infrastructure spending associated with  renewable energy cooperatives across Canada

Are you interested in volunteering?

BVGEC is a volunteer-run, social enterprise that will face many challenges as we try and achieve our goal of making green energy affordable and accessible in the Bow Valley.  

We are calling on members of our community to volunteer for any of our subcommittees and make this vision a reality!

If you want to identify yourself as a potential volunteer and didn't complete our survey, please complete this brief form, we would love to hear from you!

Hoping that you will stay safe during this period of uncertainty,

Jeff Roberts

Chairperson, Bow Valley Green Energy Cooperative

June 15, 2020