We are delighted to announce that fifteen new South West community energy projects have been awarded £612,067 of funding in the second round of applications to the Great British Energy Community Fund (GBCF).
The funding, from publicly owned energy company Great British Energy (GBE), is managed and delivered by the South West Net Zero Hub, with the aim of supporting communities to take the first step to develop projects that generate clean energy, which local people can benefit from.
A record number of projects have been successful in their applications to this funding round which was heavily oversubscribed.
The volume of applications reflects a growing interest in community energy and can be attributed to a mix of factors including funding, policy changes to encourage onshore wind and community renewables, and the work of the Hub and other support networks to grow the sector in the region.
The projects are a mix of technologies including wind, solar, hydro, battery and geothermal energy. A rise in the number of wind projects in this round is a result of the Government lifting the de facto ban on onshore wind in England.
The successful projects in this round are:
Stage 1: Feasibility grant
- Bristol Energy Network, Valley – A project to develop a community-owned wind turbine in South Gloucestershire. Award: £40,000
- Bristol Energy Network, Poundhouse – A project to develop a community-owned wind turbine in South Gloucestershire. Award: £40,000
- Blackawton Parish Council – Investigating the potential of one large wind turbine (from 1MW to 4MW) capable of providing most of the electricity for the parish. Award: £33,000
- Community Energy Plus and REACT – A feasibility study focusing on a site identified as suitable for vertical ground mount solar PV. Amount: £12,767
- Cornwall Climate Action Network – A study to develop over 3 hectares of protected organic cropping, using residual heat from lithium extraction to grow subtropical and other imported crops. Award: £39288
- Dorset Community Energy and Dorset Climate Action Network. A study to investigate building a small community windfarm near Dorchester. Award: £40,000
- Devon Energy Collective, South Brent – A feasibility study to investigate re-powering the South Brent Community Energy Society 225kW second-hand wind turbine. Award £38, 250
- Energy Prospects with 361 Community Renewables – A project to develop a portfolio of 17 projects including wind turbines, ground mount solar PV, rooftop solar PV and a heat pump in North Devon and Torridge
- Forest Community Energy -A feasibility project to assess and develop community-ownership of a share of the proposed Lightwood Solar Farm in the Forest of Dean. Award: £36,670
- Green Isle of Wight – A project to create a community-led, non-profit Social Virtual Power Plant (SVPP) on the Isle of Wight. Award: £25,350
- Race Equality North Somerset – Exploring the feasibility of developing a community-owned wind turbine near Weston-super-Mare. Award: £39,600
- Tamar Energy Community – A project to develop a community-owned, locally governed energy system for Sheepstor village on Dartmoor, with 25 households, farms/businesses and community buildings. Amount: £40,000.
- Severn Wye Energy Agency with Forest of Dean Town Council – A feasibility study to assess a potential ground-source heat solution for a group of 24 properties in the Forest of Dean. Amount: £39,979.39
Stage 2: Development grant
- Bristol Energy Cooperative Schools – A project to install community-owned solar arrays on 3 schools owned by Bristol City Council. The combined capacity of the arrays will be approximately 206 kWp, leading to carbon savings of 37.1 tonnes per year. Award: £55,000
- Devon Energy Collective Bigbury – to develop a community-owned 1MW wind turbine in collaboration with Bigbury Net Zero . Award: £95,000
Grant funding agreements are now being signed, and we expect all the projects to be kicking off in the coming weeks, with more likely to be confirmed soon. Congratulations to all the successful organisations, we look forward to working with you over the coming months.
David Lewis, Programme Lead, South West Net Zero Hub said:
“The funding to develop 15 more clean energy projects is great news for communities across the South West.
It brings the total number of Hub supported community energy projects funded through CEF and GBECF to 63 in just 3 years.”