Support for community energy projects grows

Stephen Price

A YouGov poll published today shows that over a third more people support community energy projects in Wales than support privately owned green energy projects.

The poll, conducted by social ownership group Commonwealth, showed that 29% said that they would support a privately owned commercial energy project in their area as opposed to 63% that would support a community energy project – pushing support for renewables into the majority.

51% of respondents in Wales said that they would be willing to reduce their energy use to support a local community energy project.

“Better energy future”

Leanne Wood, Co-executive Director of Community Energy Wales said: “The result of this poll shows how popular community energy is and how willing people are to take part in community energy. The people of Wales are ready to play a role in creating a better energy future”.

Community energy projects can range from wind turbines to battery storage, ground source heat pumps to micro hydro schemes, or solar arrays to EV car sharing clubs. The key factor is that the assets are held in collective community ownership with profits being reinvested back into that community as well as new community businesses.

However, the growth of community energy has stalled in recent years, with new groups finding it difficult to develop a viable business model at small scale. This is down to the scrapping of the feed-in-tariff, a subsidy for renewable energy generation.

“We need change”

Ben Ferguson, Community Energy Wales Co-Director, said: “The end of the feed-in-tariff has disproportionately impacted the community energy sector. Community energy organisations have been striving to innovate within the current set-up, but fundamentally we need a change in market regulations to allow us to grow”.

Currently, it is very difficult for a community energy organisations to sell the energy that they generate to local people.

Leanne Wood continued: “This is why we are calling on the UK Government to unlock local energy markets, the ability to generate and sell energy locally.

“This would allow community energy organisations to flourish, and ensure that our communities have agency when it comes to their energy.

“There is clearly strong public support for growth in the community energy sector, for more community owned projects and for more people being abled to get involved.

“Ensuring that community energy is at the heart of both governments’ energy policies is a must for those policies to have public backing.”