Catching up on Community Energy Fortnight
July 1st - 14th marked Community Energy Fortnight, a celebration of people-powered renewable energy. The fortnight kicked off with the Community Energy England summer conference in Bristol.
How can community energy groups and local authorities work together?
Our Chair Mike Smyth co-hosted the spotlight session 'Collaboration between community energy organisations and local authorities' at the conference, which was fully booked with community energy enthusiasts and stakeholders from around the country.
This was a particularly relevant session for 2025: whilst we have been encouraged by the government's plan to increase the 'local and community energy' sector to 8 GW, 'local' and 'community' energy can be confused, and understanding and partnership between local authorities and community energy organisations can unlock greater potential for both parties.
For example, Great British (GB) Energy's plan to install solar panels on 200 schools and 200 hospitals is a welcome form of local energy. But community energy organisations already have many years of experience in this sector (indeed some were already in talks with schools that are now instead having solar panels supplied by GB Energy), with similar benefits at no cost to the taxpayers.
Mike drew on experience developing North Lincolnshire Community Energy, a community energy society with strong support from North Lincolnshire Town Council. Their close ties meant the energy society had access to council-owned sites like schools and community buildings for solar PV installations, and the council didn't have to fund the installations.
The Millennium Wind Farm west of Fort Augustus
Should shared ownership of renewable energy projects be mandatory?
Paul Phare, Development Manager at Energy4All, also facilitated an Open Space session on shared ownership. Shared ownership is where a community energy organisation owns a stake in a bigger renewable energy development, like the Great Glen Energy Co-op which has a stake in the Millennium Wind Farm in Scotland.
This was another popular session with a mixture of attendees, including those from community groups, funders, NGED, DESNZ and local authority officers. The question 'Should the government make shared ownership mandatory?' was asked, and it was generally agreed that it should, however there was concern whether developers might be put off developing new sites by this. Ideas to help deliver a mandate were:
- For GB Energy to invest at the development stage which could be converted into community shares if the project goes ahead
- A favourable planning regime for shared ownership projects
- An uplift in their Contract for Difference payments
Another discussion was around communication and whether a national campaign to engage the public could help generate a positive environment for renewable energy development and shared ownership. This could be useful in light of the backlash we have been seeing against renewable energy and the Net Zero agenda.
Showcasing what community energy can achieve
Across the two weeks other community energy organisations hosted tours, energy drop-ins, webinars and more to showcase what our organisations do differently.
North Lincolnshire Community Energy gave a solar tour of their new 60 kW solar PV system on Lindsey Lodge Hospice in Scunthorpe, and Westmill Wind Farm and Solar Park also gave a tour of their site in Oxfordshire - the first community-owned wind farm in the south of England, which continues to put community at the heart of what it does.
Community Energy England has a list of blog posts and other resources from the past two weeks that you can find here.
We hope that everyone who engaged with Community Energy Fortnight was left inspired and motivated to help grow this sector in the year ahead!
