Power to Change is committed to supporting community businesses to take action on climate change and to respond to the cost-of-living crisis in their communities. We have been supporting innovative post-subsidy business models for community energy businesses through the Next Generation programme.
With support from our Next Generation programme, community businesses are taking innovative approaches to energy and transport issues in their communities. These are:
- Bath and West Community Energy are piloting flexibility services provided by local households, as a way of enabling more renewables within the electricity grid. See the full video here.
- Brighton Energy are adding EV charge-points to community-owned solar PV installations, providing renewable electricity to local EV users. See the full video here.
- CREW Energy are installing a large heat pump in a community centre in London, benefiting a diverse community of users, and pivoting to provide home carbon audits and energy efficiency advice to the wider community, in response to the cost-of-living crisis. See the full video here.
You can also find some case studies of these and other projects that took innovative approaches to community energy: including:
- Carbon Coops that are creating an app that helps people understand their smart meter data better.
- PEC – they’re investigating options for community-led energy systems in new zero carbon housing developments by community land trusts and
- Nadder CE that are running an EV community car club in rural Wiltshire.
These resources contain a host of ideas and lessons for other community groups to consider. They also demonstrate to local authorities and funders the vital role that community energy can play in our transition to a low carbon economy.
Further details on the Innovation programme can be found here.