Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey recently announced a £10 million fund to boost the number of community owned renewable energy schemes in England. Mr Davey explained that The Urban Community Energy Fund will give community groups in England the opportunity to bid for grants of up to £20,000, or loans of up to £130,000 to help kick-start their projects. Davey went on to point out that Community groups can reap the benefits of renewable energy by creating “power hubs” in their area. Installing solar panels on local buildings or factories or building an anaerobic digestion plant to create energy from local waste.
“I want to give more people the power to generate their own electricity and by supporting community energy projects we can – helping them drive down their energy bills at the same time.” Mr Davey commented “That’s why we’ve pledged £10 million, so communities can play their part in generating renewable power at a local level. This is all about investing in renewable energy sources, creating jobs and changing the way renewable energy is developed in the UK.”
Mr Davey explained that the community energy sector will also see its first major shake-up since the launch of the Community Energy Strategy in January this year. Davey added that Community electricity projects will now get further support under the Feed in Tariff Scheme – which pays the owners of small-scale renewable generation for the electricity they produce – to get their community energy projects off the ground. Changes include:

• for the first time, registered charities will be entitled to the same benefits as other community groups
• two community projects (or one community project and one commercial project), each up to 5MW, will now be able to share a single grid connection and receive separate Feed in Tariffs
• the FIT will now be guaranteed for an extra six months – giving communities more time to get their project up and running

Kathy Smyth, Policy Director of Community Energy England welcomed the changes to the FITs scheme “Without risking the integrity of the wider Feed in Tariff scheme, this will stimulate community involvement in larger renewable schemes. It will be a great boost to projects using the split ownership model under the voluntary protocol for Shared Community Ownership, which Ed Davey launched earlier this month.”
Ms Smyth pointed out that in addition to the changes, a Register of Community Benefits and Engagement for onshore wind projects has been launched today to help other communities to get the most out of proposed wind developments in their area.