Giving Communities a Seat at the Energy Transition Table
Community finance is about who owns the assets of the clean energy transition and who benefits from them. When local people and councils hold a real stake in the wind turbines, solar arrays and natural assets around them, the income stays local. It can then be reinvested in the places that need it most.
The UK already has proof that this works. Ambition Lawrence Weston in Bristol owns the largest onshore wind turbine in England and uses the income to fund local priorities. Plymouth Energy Community has grown with support from its city council, and Energise Barnsley has installed solar on social housing. Menter Môn in Anglesey shows that a social enterprise can hold a Crown Estate seabed lease for marine energy.
These are exceptions. Access to finance is the biggest barrier community energy faces: 72% of respondents to the 2024 call for evidence on GB Energy named it. Community projects are often too small or too early for institutional investors, and too complex for most community groups to finance alone.
GB Energy’s Local Power Plan commits up to £1 billion to community and local energy, so there is now a real opportunity to change this. The missing piece is finance designed for communities and this is what we are working on.
Our Models
The Hub designs the finance as well as the projects. Our models bring public, institutional and community capital together so that communities can own more of what gets built.
Community Integrated Investment Model (CIIM)
A dual legal structure that lets communities and councils own a growing share of large renewable energy projects alongside institutional investors, with community control of mission-critical decisions. [Find out more]
Ecosystem Warehouse Model
A way to bring small community and council projects together, standardise them and hold them until they are large enough to attract refinancing from national funds and local pension funds. [Find out more]
