Awel Aman Tawe
Aman Tawe (AAT) is the driving force behind Hwb y Gors. AAT is a community energy charity based in the Amman Valley in south Wales. Local residents established AAT in 1998 to help tackle the climate emergency and to support our communities in becoming more resilient. Since then, we’ve grown from a small community group to an award-winning organisation, never losing sight of our core ambition: to empower our communities to own and benefit from local, renewable energy.
© Mike Harrison
We’ve set up two of the largest renewable energy cooperatives in the UK, generating over 10MW of power, we have over 1500 members investing in green energy, and we now employ more than 20 local people. We built our two-turbine community wind farm on Mynydd y Gwrhyd and have installed rooftop solar on over 100 schools, community centres and businesses across south Wales.
These initiatives not only generate greener, cheaper electricity but also contribute to our education and arts programmes, our energy advice and community transport scheme as well as other community projects.
AAT continues to drive forward a shift towards a greener, fairer economy, supporting communities to thrive while addressing the climate emergency.
Hwb y Gors
With funds generated from our community windfarm, we purchased the former Cwmgors primary school in 2018, which had closed after many years of protest. The building required extensive work, and we raised additional money from many funders (see below) to restore and repurpose this beautiful building. It has been a labour of love for five years to transform the school into Hwb y Gors. See here for more details on the refurbishment in which we endeavoured to retain as many of the heritage features as possible while making the building fit for future generations.
Hwb y Gors is a flagship centre for decarbonization and renewable energy education. The building is powered by 90kW of rooftop solar panels and a 50kW ground source heating system fed by 16 boreholes reaching 60 meters underground – as deep as the shafts of the former Cwmgors Colliery! The building is clad in natural cork insulation and finished with traditional lime render. We have also implemented nature-based drainage and rainwater harvesting systems for flushing toilets and watering gardens, keeping everything as natural and wildlife-friendly as possible.
Community Engagement
Community engagement is at the heart of everything we do. Over 1,500 people have been involved in the planning and development of Hwb y Gors, ensuring that our hub meets the needs and aspirations of the local community while complementing the work of other community organisations in the area. Local people have been involved not only in decision-making but also in making stained glass windows, ceramic tiles, building a community garden and creating a 10 metre-long heritage quilt in memory of the school. During the refurbishment, we also established our repair cafe, garden group, green woodworking group and stitch club which have all relocated to Hwb y Gors.
Thank you to everyone so far for being a part of our journey!
