The government has announced £180m in capital grants for rooftop solar projects on around 200 schools and 200 NHS sites. It has also extended the Community Energy Fund with an additional £5m of funding. (This is part of the ‘nearly £12 million to help build local clean energy projects’). For more details, see the government’s press release here.
Community Energy England welcomes the government’s announcement of £5m to extend the Community Energy Fund (CEF). However, this must be an interim measure since it will barely fund the 100+ projects that have already been approved by the CEF but are stalled for lack of actual funds. The £10m Community Energy Fund has to date kickstarted 171 projects, many of which are solar projects. These will ultimately deliver more than 300MW with very little additional investment from the public purse. The government must urgently ramp up its investment in community energy and unleash its potential as a key partner to unlock 8GW of clean power.
We are pleased to see significant investment in upscaling the UK’s renewable energy capacity with the announcement of £180m for new rooftop solar projects on hospitals and schools, delivering between 70 and 105MW of clean energy capacity. Schools and hospitals are focal points of our communities and make ideal locations to showcase the best in local climate action whilst reducing the running costs of vital public services. The scale of this funding for climate action demonstrates the government’s clear commitment to reaching net zero.
However, the vastly better value for money (in megawatts alone) of the community energy delivery route shows that the government's capital grant scheme is a missed opportunity.
Many community energy organisations are experienced at delivering successful solar projects in partnership with schools and hospitals. These projects foster public participation in the energy system, which is crucial for maintaining public support for the transition to net zero.
Had the funding announced today embedded collaboration between the public sector and community energy organisations to develop projects on schools and hospitals, it would have leveraged community investment to install many more megawatts of rooftop solar. This would lead to more projects down the line and deliver huge social, economic and public engagement benefits in the local community. As it stands, the massive potential benefits of collaborating with communities will not be realised through this Great British Energy rooftop solar scheme.
Emma Bridge, Chief Executive of Community Energy England, said:
“The government’s clear commitment to tackling the climate crisis and investing in clean energy is to be applauded. However, it must do more to take advantage of the innovation, experience and value for money that community energy offers.
“The extension to the CEF is welcome given that the fund was set to expire this month. However, £5m of new funding is inadequate given the hundreds of clean energy projects that the sector is ready to roll out. These could deliver more megawatts for less public money and far greater benefits to local communities than will be achieved by the rooftop solar capital grant scheme set out today.”
Community energy has an impressive track record of delivery. The sector is growing. It needs policy and funding certainty that will allow it to continue gearing up to meet the government’s 8GW Local Power Plan target. Funding for community energy and partnership projects would deliver better value for money in megawatts, social, economic, community co-benefits, and real public participation, than this programme of capital grants.
The government has also published its response to the call for evidence on barriers to community energy. 114 organisations and individuals responded to the call for evidence including CEE and many experienced community energy practitioners. These responses, many of which were shared with CEE, gave valuable insights on how the government can work positively with community energy to deliver on its energy agenda.
Unfortunately we do not believe that the published government response represents a deep engagement with the wealth of valuable material that was contributed. We are highlighting the inadequacy of the public document to DESNZ and requesting that they share a more detailed analysis of the responses, and how they will inform solutions, as soon as possible.
CEE will continue to make the case for unleashing the potential of community energy in our regular meetings and correspondence with GB Energy and the government.