In The UK, “Power To The People” Is Latest Clean Energy Trend

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We are all self-interested. When it comes to new ideas that affect our communities, the first thing we want to know is, “What’s in it for me?” That’s not a criticism; it’s just how human brains are wired. Former US Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local,” and he was right.

The government of the UK is as committed to renewable energy as the US government is opposed to it. To move its policies forward, it has to find ways to overcome the objections of locals. We here at CleanTechnica know a thing or two about this and have long suggested that renewable energy policies need to focus more on local needs.

It’s all well and good to provide clean energy to industry and major cities, but if people in the ‘burbs see only acres of solar panels, miles of high voltage transmission lines, and a horizon filled with wind turbines, it’s not surprising if some of those people oppose such things because they do not directly benefit them personally.

£1 Billion For Community Clean Energy

The UK government announced recently that it plans to spend up to £1 billion on community owned green energy projects. That is part of an effort to combat growing resistance to renewables and grid upgrade projects. Ed Miliband, the UK energy secretary, said the new funding was intended to help democratize the energy system, increase the wealth and financial independence of local communities, and potentially cut some local energy bills.

“Britain’s drive for clean energy is 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,” Miliband said. “With the biggest-ever investment in community energy in Britain’s history, this government is saying to every local community: we want you to be able to own and control clean energy so the profits flow into your community not simply out to the big energy companies.”

The funding for local community owned solar, wind, hydro, and biomass projects will be shared with the governments of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The program will be administered by GB Energy, the government owned company that the Labour government hopes will help deliver cheaper electricity and greater energy security for the UK.

1000 Clean Energy Projects

GB Energy told The Guardian it initially hopes to provide grants or loans to 1,000 clean energy projects. It could also allow communities and local councils to buy shares in large privately owned schemes.

Ministers expect the money to pay for solar panels on public buildings, churches, and schools which will produce more affordable off-grid power systems, or to fund new wind farms where all the profits are spent on the local community.

Supporters of the new funding program hope it will address growing criticism of building taller and larger towers to support new transmission lines and will help to install major new onshore wind farms, solar arrays, and battery farms in rural areas. If people in those rural areas see those projects benefiting them, they are more likely to support rather than oppose them.

The latest data compiled by community energy advocates in England, Scotland, and Wales shows the sector has grown consistently since 2017. The total installed capacity has grown by 81%, with solar and hydro capacity more than doubling. The number of people who are members of community energy companies has also surged, from 30,000 in 2017 to nearly 85,000 in 2024.

Zoe Holliday, the chief executive of Community Energy Scotland, said the new funding could be “truly transformative” for local communities. “Many people in rural areas look out of their windows and look at these huge turbines on the horizon but they don’t materially show any positive benefits for the community. For groups taking forward their own community projects, these become community assets, addressing energy resilience, providing an income stream which they can use to deliver local priorities.”

Local Power For Orkney Islands

In the far north of the UK, out in the ocean above John o’Groats, are the Orkney Islands — windswept and battered by the sea every hour of the day. It’s the perfect place for wind turbines, and the £62 million in new funding from the UK government will finance up to 18 new wind turbines on the islands.

But here’s the important part. All the profits from the project, which is expected to be the UK’s largest publicly owned wind farm, will be spent on local services. Construction of the first phase, six 150-meter-high turbines near Kirkwall, is due to begin in 2027.

The turbines, which will generate enough electricity to power about 47,000 homes, are expected to bring in about £3.3 million annually to support council spending from 2028 onward, raising approximately £120 million over the project’s lifetime. Supporters say guaranteeing all the profits will be kept on Orkney to fund local services made a critical difference in winning public support.

Heather Woodbridge, the leader of the local council, and Sweyn Johnston, Orkney’s head of enterprise and economic growth, said public ownership meant their scheme was “much more palatable and understandable” for residents. “This is a different model to other rural areas, where perhaps you see big business coming in and identifying the natural asset that we have right here, and that profit is going elsewhere,” Woodbridge said.

“Ultimately we’re living, seeing, and working near this slightly more industrialized landscape, but to know that money is going to fund the school your child is going to, or the social care for a neighbor or a relative [makes it] much more palatable to local communities.”

The council also hopes to erect six more turbines on Hoy, a large island just south of Orkney’s main island, and six on Faray, an uninhabited island recently bought by the council, over the next few years.

Zoë Holliday said the case for community ownership and wealth building had come into sharp focus in the debate about the transition away from oil and gas. Community and publicly owned schemes returned far more to local communities than the £5,000 per MW of capacity typically offered by private projects, she said. “There’s real political will at both Scottish and UK level to support community energy. We could be transforming our communities if we just gave them a stake in this system,” she added.

Hat tip to Are Hansen. We both read The Guardian regularly but see different editions — his focused on Europe and mine on the US. I would have missed both of The Guardian articles used to create this story if Are had not alerted me to them. Takk.