Great British Energy (GBE) have announced nearly £30 million of funding to support local clean energy projects that will cut bills and bring benefits to communities.
This is the first wave of up to £1 billion in funding for community-led clean power projects announced earlier this year in the Government’s Local Power Plan.
As part of the announcement, GBE has launched two new funds for local authorities and community energy groups.
- A £20 million Community Fund – offers grant funding to help community organisations across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to test, develop and build community-owned clean energy assets that deliver benefits for the local community.
- A £5 million Partnerships Grant – a new scheme offering grant funding to help Local Authorities in England and community energy partners to accelerate joint clean energy projects that will provide lasting local benefits.
Local authorities and community energy groups will now be able to put forward their ideas for locally-owned clean energy generation projects including, for example: solar on community buildings, community wind farms and hydro schemes.
Each of the five local Net Zero Hubs in England has received £500,000 of the funding to support groups and local authorities with their applications to the new funds.
The South West Net Zero Hub has already supported more than 90 community energy projects to get started in the South West under previous government funding programmes. Projects include:
- Support to develop a solar farm at the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity airbase, providing income for the charity and benefits for the local community
- A ground mounted solar installation project at a free-range chicken farm in Wiltshire aiming to generate lower cost energy for local people
- A community-led initiative looking to bring hydroelectric power back to the Cheddar Yeo river to supply local electricity demand
In previous years Local Net Zero Hubs have administered Community Energy Funds on behalf of Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
The administration of funds will now be managed through a national portal, but Hubs will continue to play an active role to support communities in their region of England.
This includes pre-application support, such as responding to queries, providing guidance on application development, and reviewing applications where capacity allows.
We are ready to help local authorities, community groups and partners navigate this new funding and bring forward more clean energy projects to benefit local people in the region.
If you are based in the South West and would like to receive support with your application from us please fill in a request for support form. This will help us to tailor our advice and provide the right support to strengthen your application:
All details of the grant schemes including guidance documents, FAQs and the national application portal are now available on the GBE website:
The closing date for both funds is 12 November 2026 at 11.55 pm.