Wadebridge, a small town in Cornwall, is going ‘back to the future’, localising its energy supply and, in doing so, re-building its local economyStand in Coronation Park, high above the north Cornish town of Wadebridge, and you can look down on the future of localised energy supply. Solar panels glint from the roofs of homes and schools, wind turbines whirr and solar farms are just visible in the distance. The town now gets 3% of its energy supply from renewables, and plans to have reached 100% by 2020.
I’ve just left Regen 2014, held in Liverpool’s Stanley Dock, part of the government’s International Festival for Business.