As part of the UK’s “largest ever investment” in community energy, GB Energy is calling for Expressions of Interest from communities across Scotland and the UK.
Today the government and GB Energy published the Local Power Plan. Backed by a £1 billion fund, the scheme will support an initial 1000 projects, such as solar panels on sports clubs. Or, even more ambitious shared ownership energy projects, between communities and infrastructure developers.
The Local Power Plan aims to cut bills and create revenue for community centres, social clubs and places of worship through local energy projects.
Announced by Secretary of State Ed Miliband, he said “local and community energy is at the heart of our government’s vision.”
This focus on local, clean energy was “about answering the call for a different kind of economy that works for the many, not just the wealthy and powerful in our society. Local and community energy is at the heart of our government’s vision.”
This is a huge announcement of support and confidence in local-level action.
Scotland’s Climate Hubs have supported community owned renewables across the country. In East Lothian, the Hub has worked with the Scottish Government’s CARES programme to support communities in Cockenzie and Tyninghame to determine the feasibility of owning, generating and benefitting from their natural energy resources.
But what does this new funding mean for Scotland?
Shared ownership and the Local Power Plan in Scotland
In Scotland, both the density of new energy developments and energy prices are their highest. Almost a third of Scottish households are affected by fuel poverty. Community-owned energy has helped provide an alternative, or stronger position in a system which has failed many communities.
Minister for Energy Michael Shanks said that the Local Power Plan would be important for parts of the country where community energy ownership had been hollowed out, including Scotland.
The LPP wasn’t just about megawatts on the grid but about taking the view that energy matters and communities can benefit from ownership of the infrastructure.
“From £60m spent by the last parliament to £1bn is a statement of intent.”
There are ambitions for the Local Power Plan to help shared ownership bids, especially in Scotland.
However this is something that the minister and GB Energy say will require more work to finalise. While there has been a desire expressed for mandatory shared ownership offerings, it would require making sure these are realistic and communities are in a position to accept any offerings from developers.
GB Energy says it hopes to release more tools for communities to explore shared ownership options in the new financial year.
The first step will be to identify the ambitions and types of projects across the country and support the delivery of the Power Plan.
Community organisations and projects, of any scale, are invited to register an Expression of Interest via gbe.gov.uk/local-power-plan.
