Our Power, Our Place

Westmill Solar Farm Co-operative

How we imagine the future shapes where we put our collective energy today. So it matters what kind of future we wish for.

According to Mission 2025, we currently face two exponential truths: the impacts of the climate crisis are worsening rapidly; and positive change is happening faster than we think.

With media heavily biased towards a bleak future and incumbents casting doubts about the cost and speed of moving towards net zero, you may be fooled into believing that the transformation towards a cleaner, greener and more affordable future is stalling.

But progress is speeding up not slowing down, especially when it comes to renewable energy generation. The UK government has reset the direction of policy by undertaking to decarbonise almost all electricity generation by 2030 and is setting up Great British Energy (GBE), an ambitious new UK publicly-owned green power company.

Why is this good for community energy and what’s so good about community energy?

GBE will develop and invest in renewable energy projects, with a mandate that includes encouraging local power projects as part of the government’s Local Power Plan. This proposed plan offers grants for local authorities and low-interest loans for community energy organisations to implement community-led and owned clean energy projects such as onshore wind and household solar. And community-scale renewable energy that’s generated close to where it’s needed doesn’t need big power transmission lines or mega pylons.

There’s nothing small about the total energy generated from all these potential new small- and medium-scale projects. According to Community Energy England, over five years, local energy could deliver 8 gigawatts of solar and onshore wind – the equivalent of 2.5 new nuclear power stations – enough to power nearly 4.4 million homes.

The good news for people locally is that boosting community-owned power is not just about increasing public investment into new renewable capacity. Community energy projects deliver over 10 times the community benefit of commercial energy installations, ensuring that more people locally share in the benefits of the transition away from burning fossil fuels.

‘Community energy really is for everyone,’ says renewable energy advocate Sonya Bedford MBE, speaking on the Carbon Copy Podcast ahead of Earth Day 2025, on April 22, which is themed Our Power, Our Planet. ‘If people have a passion, then they’ll work really hard at helping everyone else deliver that. If you are bored by the technology side of renewable energy, you can focus on something else. If it’s the community engagement part and the talking to people part about it excites you, you do that bit.  If it’s the marketing or design bits of things, then let’s do that!’  

The projection that community energy could grow exponentially may seem far-fetched. And yet, community energy is driven by almost limitless human energy; that’s its power and unique place at the heart of the big switch to renewable energy.

See over 400 renewable energy projects on Carbon Copy; and for more inspiration, visit generate energy locally.