Great British Energy Funding: New Funding for Councils and Community Energy Projects
by Alan Barber
If you're a council with a good idea for a renewable energy project, there has traditionally been one fairly significant problem: who pays to turn the good idea into an actual project?
Feasibility studies, grid investigations, surveys, business cases and technical design all cost money before you've generated a single kWh. That's exactly the gap the new Great British Energy funding is looking to address.
Through two complementary schemes, the GBE Community Fund and GBE Local Partnerships Grant, funding is now available to help councils and community organisations investigate, develop and ultimately deliver local clean energy projects.
GBE Local hub describes this as part of a wider ambition to support more than 1,000 local and community energy projects by 2030, with up to £1 billion of investment.
GBE Community Fund: including Town and Parish Councils
The Great British Energy Community Fund is particularly interesting for Town and Parish Councils, which are specifically included as eligible organisations alongside Community Interest Companies, Community Benefit Societies, co-operatives, charities and other qualifying community organisations.
Funding is available across three stages:
Projects don't necessarily have to start at Stage 1. Applicants can enter at the stage appropriate to the maturity of their project.
That creates opportunities for projects involving solar PV, battery storage, wind and other eligible clean-energy technologies.
GBE Local Partnerships Grant: bringing Local Authorities and communities together
There is also a second route: the GBE Local Partnerships Grant.
This scheme is designed for Local Authorities working in partnership with community organisations to develop local clean-energy projects. It addresses that difficult early stage when everyone agrees that an idea sounds promising, but nobody has the resources to establish whether it actually stacks up.
Funding can support areas including partnership formation, governance, feasibility and project development, helping projects progress towards investment readiness.
The two funds complement one another rather neatly: one supports community-led projects, including those led by Town and Parish Councils, while the other is focused on Local Authority-community partnerships.
So where does Salvis come in?
Receiving funding is only useful if you can turn it into a viable project. Salvis can provide the technical and commercial expertise to help councils and community organisations do exactly that.
We can support projects with:
- Renewable energy feasibility studies
- Solar PV and battery assessments
- Building, site and energy surveys
- Energy and carbon analysis
- Financial modelling and business cases
- Grid connection investigations
- Heat network and low-carbon energy opportunities
- Technical design and project development
- Technical evidence to support funding applications
And you don't necessarily need to come to us with a perfectly formed project. You might simply have a council building with a large roof, some land that could accommodate renewable generation or an energy project that's been sitting in the "we really ought to look at that" pile for the last three years.
That's enough to start a conversation.
Could your council have a project?
If you're a Local Authority, Town Council, Parish Council or community organisation considering solar PV, battery storage or another local energy project, the new Great British Energy funding could provide a route to move it forward.
Talk to Salvis. We can help identify suitable opportunities, establish which funding route fits and provide the technical support needed to take an idea from initial feasibility through to a deliverable project.
Because finding the funding is important. Making the project actually work is the bit that really matters.
Talk to Salvis