The report reveals that over the last decade community owned energy
capacity has increased by 1300 per cent to nearly 60MW.Â
If this
trend continues, the sector will grow nine-fold and reach a capacity of
550MW by 2020.
ResPublica said that with “leadership and investment” from
local authorities and the right national policy framework, the sector could
deliver up to 5.27GW of renewable energy capacity.
However, the report claims there are “a number of barriers to
be addressed” before this can be achieved, including funding, financial
know-how, and legal advice.
To help overcome these, ResPublica recommends: the government
extends the feed-in tariff to include joint ownership models, allowing
community projects to be eligible for the payments; the creation of a
portal for develop-community “match-making”, which would allow developers
to express an interest in forging a partnership with the community, and
vice-versa; that local authorities should act as financial intermediaries
for potential projects; and that the government should allow community
renewable projects to be fast-tracked through the planning system.
Maria McCaffery, chief executive of Renewable UK, said: “Using
this socially and economically-inclusive model, we have an opportunity to
unlock a significant growth in community energy, particularly onshore wind.
“This will enable all of us to reap the economic and
environmental benefits of wind energy at a truly local level.”