IN Brief:
- Great British Energy has launched £30 million of community and local clean-energy support.
- Its £20 million Community Fund offers up to £3 million, or 50% of project value, for eligible construction-ready schemes.
- The wider Local Power Plan aims to support more than 1,000 community and local energy projects by 2030.
Great British Energy has opened £30 million of funding and support for community and local-authority energy projects, creating several routes intended to move renewable generation and storage schemes from feasibility through development and, for eligible projects, into construction.
The package forms the first funding wave under the wider Local Power Plan. Great British Energy and the Government intend the programme to support more than 1,000 local and community-led clean-energy projects by 2030, with eligible technologies including solar, wind, storage, hydro, and other low-carbon systems.
The largest element is a £20 million Community Fund for legally constituted community organisations in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Projects must be designed to be at least 50% community owned when operational, giving the fund a defined ownership requirement alongside its technical and financial tests.
The fund is divided into three development stages. Feasibility grants provide up to £40,000 to test whether an idea is viable, development grants provide up to £100,000 to turn feasible concepts into investment-ready projects, while construction-ready schemes can apply for up to £3 million or 50% of total project value.
That progression reflects the engineering work required before equipment can be ordered. A community group may identify a suitable roof, land parcel, wind resource, battery site, or hydro opportunity, but still needs surveys, grid studies, planning work, electrical design, legal agreements, procurement information, and a viable financial model.
The feasibility stage provides a route to establish whether those fundamentals support further expenditure. Grid capacity can determine the viability of a project before detailed engineering begins, particularly where the intended generation or battery capacity exceeds the headroom available on the local distribution network.
Projects that progress into development then need a much firmer electrical specification. Connection voltage, export limits, transformer capacity, protection settings, metering, control systems, cable routes, civil works, and maintenance access all influence construction cost and the quantity of electricity that can ultimately be generated or shifted.
The programme also includes a Partnerships Grant of up to £5 million over 2026-27 for English local authorities working with community energy organisations. That scheme offers up to £40,000 for partnership formation and feasibility and up to £100,000 for detailed development rather than large construction grants.
Local-authority partnerships can create access to sites that are difficult for individual community organisations to develop alone. Council buildings, leisure centres, depots, car parks, and other public assets can accommodate generation, storage, or charging equipment, while authorities can also act as electricity users and help coordinate planning and estate-management requirements.
A further £1.8 million is being allocated to the Scottish Government for existing community-energy support programmes, while Great British Energy is backing advice services in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland with up to £2.9 million. Together, those measures make up the £30 million funding and support package announced on 17 September.
The different technologies supported by the programme create very different network characteristics. Solar generation follows a daytime profile, wind output depends on weather, hydro schemes can have more predictable seasonal behaviour, and batteries can import and export electricity according to operating instructions.
Battery storage can help a community project manage local generation or electricity costs, but it also adds an active load to the connection. The battery’s power rating, energy capacity, charging schedule, export capability, fire strategy, protection settings, and commercial operating model all need to be considered alongside the original renewable asset.
Capital-stage applicants still have to fund at least half of their total project value because the Community Fund contribution is capped at 50%. Construction-ready status therefore requires more than planning permission: projects need a credible route for debt, community investment, retained funds, commercial partnership, or another source of grant support covering the remaining cost.
Once operational, community ownership also carries technical responsibilities. Organisations need arrangements for asset monitoring, maintenance, insurance, power sales, connection compliance, safety inspections, replacement reserves, and the management of faults that could otherwise reduce generation or leave equipment unavailable for long periods.
Great British Energy is using a project target rather than a national megawatt target, meaning a small rooftop scheme can count alongside a much larger renewable or storage project. That approach supports a broad range of local developments but means the eventual electrical contribution will depend on which projects successfully navigate the funding stages.
Applications for the Community Fund are open for eight weeks. The more useful measure of the programme will come later, when projects move from feasibility into connection agreements, procurement, construction, and commissioning. Funding can accelerate those stages, but the electricity network will ultimately see only the capacity that progresses through them into operating assets.
