How-to Guide
Definition, impact and sector potential
Community energy is about people and communities taking democratic control over their energy future, by understanding, generating, using, owning and saving energy in their communities, as well as working together across regions and nationally.
Impact
What makes it different from other forms of energy ownership and delivery, is that community energy is about maximising social and environmental benefits, rather than just solely focusing on maximising profit.
We still trade electricity and heat, and provide other commercial energy services, but they are often a means to bring in income to fund other more charitable work like alleviating fuel poverty, or supporting community centres and food banks, or even rewilding projects. This is why we call it a ‘social enterprise’ approach.
There is lots of good research to show the additional social and environmental impact that community energy delivers over a purely commercial delivery model.
We have developed and curated resources to help our members know how to record, evidence and report these additional impacts, some of which can be found here.
You can find more resources on impact produced by the Energy Learning Network
Sector potential
Under it’s upcoming Local Power Plan, the government have an ambition to see up to 8GW of local and community owned renewable energy projects, which includes wind, solar, hydropower, and battery storage. This represents around 20x growth from where the sector is today, and a capital investment, by our estimates, of between £6-8 billion! We’re certainly up for that challenge!
We also wish to see every local authority area in the country served and supported by their own community energy organisation.
Snapshot of the sector
The sector is ever growing, and includes a diverse range of projects, people and directions of work and activity. For a good introduction and summary on the diversity, size and benefits of the sector, we recommend starting with the latest State of the Sector Report. find the key highlights from our 2025 state of the sector research.
Starter resources for you
People Powered Poster by CEE member York Community Energy
Download (PDF, 1.6MB) People Powered Poster by CEE member York Community Energy
A guide to all the basics of community energy, produced by CEE principal member Younity.