The UK should “mobilise an army of volunteers” to transform the country’s energy landscape and reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuel by setting up community energy groups, say campaigners.
With energy prices rising, local schemes such as solar panels, locally-funded wind farms and even hydroelectric dams could be crucial to helping generate energy.
John Taylor, the energy projects manager at Energy Hub, argues that the UK should be convening local groups that can help give advice on grants for insulation and heat pumps, set up community-owned renewable projects, and help with insulation.
“Volunteers can be provided with thermal imaging cameras to go door to door,” he suggested. They can help “identify cold spots and installing simple measures like draft proofing and radiator panels. They can also help set heating controls and lower boiler flow temperatures.”
He also suggests that community groups can “run a village survey to find out who needs items like DIY loft insulation and draft proofing kits. Then order them wholesale to get bulk discounts and deliver them to a community centre or village hall for people to collect.”
Taylor told the Guardian: “When it comes to the climate emergency and the current gas crisis, people don’t just want to be spectators, they want to be involved in the solutions. Next winter is shaping up to be an unprecedented challenge, so it’s vital we insulate and fit renewables to as many homes as possible over the next nine months.”
Local authorities and energy hubs have access to government grants for such schemes.
Taylor added: “Mobilising an army of volunteers to help find homes who most need help would have an immediate and positive impact; community energy groups can bring that really important element of trust for referring vulnerable people to these official grant programmes.”
Unlike other energy businesses, these community schemes are owned by the people who live near the infrastructure, and can profit from the energy provided.
“When it comes to larger projects like solar and wind farms, it’s important to remember that community energy groups are businesses like other developers, but they’re democratically owned by the people who will live alongside this new infrastructure,” Taylor explained.
“The revenues from power sales stay with those communities and can be reinvested in other services they really need like rural electric buses fuel poverty alleviation, and upgrading schools and community buildings. During the Covid lockdown, Ferry Farm Community Solar in West Sussex donated £40,000 to local food banks.”
Infrastructure communities have a stake in could be a more palatable way to reach the onshore renewables targets required to reach net zero by 2050. This is because those who live nearby can profit from them and have a say in how and where they are built.
“If communities are empowered to be proactive in designing and developing their own schemes, whether on their own or in partnership with commercial developers, not only will we see a greater acceptance for these schemes, we will see a multiplier/levelling up effect as millions in community benefit funds start flowing into grassroots projects all across the country,” Taylor said.
One group of people in Oxford has managed to harness their local river to provide enough hydroelectric energy to power 55 homes a year.
However, critics of the government’s policy including the Conservative MP Philip Dunne, who chairs the environmental audit committee, have said the current schemes are not sufficient.
This is because energy generated has to be sold back to the grid, rather than used directly to power the nearest homes, which makes the idea less attractive to communities and results in waste.
Examples of good community energy projects
South-east - Enborne Parish Field Solar Farm – a small solar farm on charity-owned land. Original purpose of the charity was to use land to grow firewood to distribute to the poor of the village. Now giving it a modern twist by using sunlight to make electricity instead of firewood.
Midlands – Cromford Mill Hydropower – Nottingham city council is working with local people to install a water wheel on the River Derwent, which could power homes with hydroelectric energy. There was a water wheel on this site in 1776, so new technology is meeting historic infrastructure.
North-west – Lancaster Cohousing – this nonprofit housing group has homes connected to a community microgrid. Their power is from a 160kW hydroelectric scheme, Halton Lune Hydro, and from 89kWp of roof-mounted solar panels on their roofs, owned by MORE Renewables, another local community energy company. National Grid electricity is only imported when demand exceeds supply. They are net exporters of electricity and have a biomass boiler for hot water and heating.
London – Ripple Energy – Building the UK’s first consumer owned wind farms. People can buy shares in the wind turbines and have their share of electricity sales discounted off their home electricity tariff.
South East London Community Energy – A really active group, which delivers fuel poverty advice and referrals to council grants as well as rooftop solar projects.
South-east - BHESCO (Brighton and Hove Energy Services Cooperative) – One of the countries most successful community energy groups, offering home and business retrofit under an energy-as-a-service business model.
