Renewable Energy Worcester Community Energy Co-op
RENEW is a diverse, grassroots group of Worcester residents who are committed to working for energy democracy in our community
Join RENEW Worcester!
A comic about community-owned solar written and illustrated by Transverse Cooperative in deep collaboration with RENEW Worcester.
Our Values
Community
We believe that solutions come from the ground, from place-based lived experience. We work to include members of Worcester’s diverse communities in decision-making about the changing energy system.
Cooperation
We empower all members of our organization to share their ideas and decide on how the organization functions by operating with a democratic, consensus-based decision making process. We support the growing movement for a co-operative economy in Worcester and beyond.
Justice
Energy democracy is a framework for creating new structures of ownership and control, including structures of shared ownership and deeply democratic decision-making. We are committed to building such structures with members of historically disenfranchised communities at the helm. We aim to bring the economic, environmental, and social benefits of renewable energy to communities of color, low income residents, and non-English speaking communities that face barriers to moving off fossil fuels.
Problem Solving
We learn through doing. We are tackling the intersectional problems associated with the current fossil fuel-based energy system and the challenges of transitioning to renewable energy.
Activism
We are engaged in system change and work with residents and our organizational partners to build an energy system that will be the basis of a more just and resilient economy.
We are a Community Energy Cooperative of Co-op Power, a regional energy co-op that operates through local chapters
As a regional CEC of Co-op Power, we overcome historical barriers (such as financing; technical expertise, and trust) that have prevented low income individuals, nonprofits, and small businesses from going solar in order to plan, build, develop, and manage community-owned solar projects that benefit Worcester residents. We ensure that our solar energy projects include local living wage jobs.
We Do This Through
RENEW Empowers Community
As a grassroots group, RENEW organizes and participates in events and forums to engage our community in co-learning about our changing energy system.
RENEW in the community…
We work with community members to plan, organize, and build community-owned solar projects that benefit the most energy-burdened residents and communities in our city. Together, we create and facilitate strategic partnerships that enable access to the required expertise to develop and oversee clean energy projects from conception to launch and beyond, while staying true to the core guiding principles of energy democracy.
Power Building Summit
On March 5, we came together with organizers, activists, and changemakers from across the city to share our visionary goals…
Tabling at Juneteenth
We had the pleasure of tabling at Worcester’s Annual Juneteenth event, hosted by Black Heritage Worcester. The event attracts hundreds…
Total Eclipse at the Heart
On April 8, 2024, RENEW joined The Village Worcester and other community partners in a community celebration of the solar…
Why RENEW Does It
100% Renewable Energy Is Not A Sufficient Response.
The currently dominant economic system treats energy as a commodity to be exploited for profit. We can fuel our economy with renewable energy sources and yet leave in place the social, legal, and economic structures that prioritize property rights over human rights, that alienate people from one another and from mother nature that sustains all life.
By doing so, we perpetuate the systemic inequalities that allow profit-seeking business interests to exploit our resources, extract wealth from our communities, and unfairly burden the most marginalized members of our community with the highest energy costs and the most negative environmental and health outcomes. We believe there is another way.
The Opportunity In a Changing Energy System
We get electricity from an electrical grid that is owned by monopoly utilities and organized around big power plants far from consumers. The good news is that our utility no longer has monopoly control over where and how we source our energy, and a decentralized supply system creates exciting possibilities for energy democracy. We can now design energy systems that are owned and under the control of community members.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Subscribe to our e-mail list to receive our monthly newsletters! We include updates on projects, event announcements, and information on membership.
Let’s stay in touch so we can move forward together in solidarity!
Find Us
Address
RENEW Worcester
c/o Worcester Roots
4 King St.
Worcester, MA 01609
RENEW is a proud Community Energy Cooperative of Co-op Power as well as an independent energy democracy group.
Visit our CEC profile on CO-OP Power to learn more.
About RENEW
Funding for RENEW was provided by the New England Grassroots Environment Fund. The New England Grassroots Environment Fund energizes and nurtures local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe, and environmentally sustainable communities. We do this by moving resources to community-based organizers and shifting power in decision-making to those most impacted by the work.For more information, please visit grassrootsfund.org or call 603-905-9915.
Funding for RENEW was also provided through an Energy Equity Grant from Climate Nexus, a sponsored project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisersand by the Solstice Community Benefit Fund. The Solstice Community Benefit Fund supports community organizations focused on environmental justice initiatives and new clean energy development. Solstice is an impact-focused company working to share th benefits of clean energy with under-resourced communities. Through their Community Benefit REC program, Solstice aggregates corporate community investment to support new clean energy projects while providing financial benefits to under-resourced community members and the organizations that serve them