The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced that the de facto ban on new onshore wind projects has been lifted as of 8 July 2024. “Onshore wind applications will be treated in the same way as other energy development proposals.”

Community Energy England and many of our partner organisations have lobbied hard for this change and we are delighted that the new government has, as they promised, acted immediately to make new onshore wind a reality.

Now is the time for community energy organisations to start planning new onshore wind projects. If you might be considering or are planning a wind project (or anywhere in between) please let us know in this very short survey.

The government wants a doubling of onshore wind by 2030. 70% of the population now support onshore wind even local to them. We aim to enable community energy to play its part. We are represented on the Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce which is working "to identify and then deliver the actions needed to accelerate onshore wind deployment to 2030 and beyond."

In 2023 Ambition Community Energy in Bristol installed the largest and most powerful singe wind turbine in England (4.2MW) one of, we think, only 2 turbines installed in England that year. It had taken 9 years from project inception to commissioning, a testament to community energy's capacity to make the impossible happen! And now ITS POSSIBLE AGAIN!

The Community Energy Fund accepts applications for wind projects, so consider approaching your regional Net Zero Hub to discuss funding for potential projects.

Visit WeWantWind.org to look for potential sites near you. The tool gives wind speed as well as all possible barriers from planning, proximity to transport, housing, the grid etc etc. It has been produced by a community energy friendly entrepreneur. Please feedback how you find it.

It will be worth rewatching our Spring ‘23 event Wind - From Idea to Reality especially the section by John Malone from Energy4All with a development checklist. Some useful resources are available here

It’s also worth reading Wind-powered Heat, a report we collaborated on about how wind can make decarbonising heat cheaper and up to 90% lower carbon than gas. See a presentation on the Bishops Castle Heat Initiative which is piloting this model. Please contact Josef Davies-Coates at CEE if you are interested in pursuing similar opportunities.

A report from 2021 showed that community wind projects in Scotland delivered on average 34 times the community benefit of commercial projects even though commercial projects are encouraged to contribute £5,000 p MW installed to community benefit funds! We want that for our communities!

If your area is suitable for onshore wind and your organisation is interested in maybe, probably or definitely looking into doing it please fill in our wind survey here.

Please fill in the wind survey here