A greater number of communities will be allowed to control their renewable energy projects, as Great British Energy and Government publish the Local Power Plan, with £1bn of funding to support locally owned energy generation projects such as solar panels on libraries, leisure centres and welfare clubs.

Community owned energy is common in other countries. In Germany, for example, around two-fifths of installed renewable energy generation capacity is citizen-owned.

Great British Energy CEO Dan McGrail said: “Communities are at the heart of Great British Energy’s mission. Local and community projects create cleaner, more secure and more affordable energy for our communities. We are investing up to £1bn into community and local energy projects so that people up and down the country can feel the benefit of public ownership with purpose.”

Great British Energy aims to support an initial 1,000 clean energy projects. The projects will be developed and led by communities or local government or alternatively allow people to buy shares in nearby larger-scale renewable projects.

The Local Power Plan will help address barriers currently holding back many community energy projects, which range from financial and regulatory to lack of commercial or technical expertise. Advice on funding and building clean energy projects in a town or village can be obtained from through Great British Energy that aims a “one stop shop” for local energy. This marks a more joined-up and comprehensive offer to support the delivery of community energy projects across the UK.

RenewableUK's head of policy Steven Agnew said: “Poll after poll has shown that people are overwhelmingly in favour of new clean energy projects, and that 73 per cent of them support onshore wind farms. We know there are communities who want to go a step further by building their own clean energy projects too. Developers are already collaborating successfully with communities on projects such as the Lawrence Weston wind turbine in Bristol. The involvement of Great British Energy will help more communities take advantage of these opportunities.”

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