Green Alliance, along with 20 community energy groups, have published its Community Energy 2.0 report calling on Government to revitalise its ambition on increasing levels of community energy.
The Government’s Community Energy Strategy, launched in 2014, which aimed to ensure that one million homes would be powered by community energy appears to have been abandoned with only a fraction of this target benefiting from locally-produced and owned energy.
The report makes four key recommendations to Government to support the growth of community energy:
- Open new routes to market for community energy schemes.
- Design local energy markets that fully value community energy.
- Stimulate local innovation with more trials.
- Support clean energy ownership through community enterprise.
The report warns that the sector will face a cliff edge by the Government’s decision to scrap feed-in tariffs in March this year.