Thirteen North East and Yorkshire communities will receive over half a million pounds of funding to help generate homegrown energy and heat which local people benefit from, following the latest round of allocations from the Great British Energy Community Fund.
The Fund, managed locally by the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub, helps local groups develop locally-owned clean energy projects – reducing energy costs for organisations and local carbon emissions, and even generating income for local projects.
The news comes as Great British Energy, the publicly owned energy company, celebrates its first birthday.
The latest projects to receive £550,000 funding through the Hub include feasibility studies for four solar power projects in Leeds, a community-owned heat network in North Yorkshire and solar powered Electric Vehicle charging on Holy Island in Northumberland.
Details of the latest projects to receive Great British Energy Community Funding in the North East and Yorkshire are as follows.
SY Ecofit Community Interest Company
Awarded £40,000 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of a strategy to increase DIY retrofit uptake in South Yorkshire. The project aims to engage diverse groups: including those living with fuel poverty and groups at higher risk of fuel poverty, to improve access to construction work for women and empower community groups to take control of their housing conditions. The project will explore the options of a suitable organisation structure to ensure the end project is at least 70% community-owned, with governance distributed across community members and grassroots partners.
Church of England - Newcastle Diocese
Awarded £34,970 for Stage 1 project for structural surveys, following the completion of successful feasibility studies of rooftop Solar PV arrays through the NCEL project, of 10 churches within the Newcastle Diocese. NCEL are a co-operative and a Community Benefit Society with members from the beneficiary community buildings to ensure the benefits remain local. The energy generated will not only reduce energy costs and carbon emissions but will also support community resilience as the church will provide a warm space and charging facilities to local residents and any surplus revenue generated by the project will be distributed to other innovative carbon offsetting community-based benefit projects.
Environmental Smart CIC (Lastingham)
Awarded £36,450 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of a village-wide decarbonisation solution for the village of Lastingham and will consider solar PV, hydro power and ground-source heat (shallow and deep solutions) in their study. The community ownership model will be explored through this project, and the community benefits will be lower energy costs, increased energy resilience from grid power outages and the profits will be fed back into the community.
Spennymoor Town Council
Awarded £30,000 for Stage 2 project to further develop a solar development at the former aerodrome site in Spennymoor. The project will be delivered under the Energy4All community ownership model, allowing residents to invest, share financial returns, and participate in the decision-making. The benefits to the Spennymoor community will be through a combination of direct cost savings, reinvestment of profits through the Community Benefit Fund, and local economic and environmental gains.
Environmental Smart CIC (Malton)
Awarded £38,200 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of deploying a ground-source heat network to heat Malton School and the Malton Community Hospital and the residents of Malton. The community ownership model will be explored through this project and the community benefits from this project will be lower energy costs, increased energy resilience from grid power outages and the profits will be fed back into the community, as well as creating a learning centre to provide an education opportunity to the Malton School community.
The East Durham Employability Trust
Awarded £40,000 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of installing Solar PV, Battery Energy Storage System and EV charging points at their Trust site. The community-owned model will be through a not-for-profit community organisation/co-operative structure and be governed by a board made up primarily of residents and stakeholders, ensuring democratic control and accountability. Any surplus income generated will be reinvested locally via a community benefit fund to support further sustainability initiatives, energy efficiency improvements, or hardship support, as well as the project creating training, volunteering, and employment opportunities for local people.
Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development Trust
Awarded £98,880 for Stage 2 project to further develop a project to install a ground mounted Solar PV array, Battery Energy Storage System and 10 fast EV chargers on the Island. The intention is to finance the project through a community share raise, to ensure it is community owned and the financial model has been structured to generate community benefit for a coordinated programme of energy efficiency and retrofit measures on residents’ homes, as well as providing a return on investment for community shareholders.
Tempus Community Projects CIC
Awarded £40,000 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of installing a Solar PV array with Battery Energy Storage and EV charging points, on a purpose-built community of residential units to support former athletes and military personnel living with CTE and early onset dementia. The community ownership model will be determined in this project via a suitable not-for-profit community organisation or co-operative organisation with a board primarily composed of local residents and stakeholders, to ensure control, accountability, and alignment is within community priorities. This aim is to create a local renewable energy system that supplies the site and provides affordable public charging for residents, businesses, and visitors. Any surplus income generated will be reinvested locally via a community benefit fund, to support initiatives such as further renewable energy projects, energy efficiency improvements, and hardship support for vulnerable households.
Clean Energy Leeds
(previously known as Alwoodley Community Energy) – Awarded £18,534 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility to install solar PV systems on up to four community centres across Leeds. Clean Energy Leeds is a Community Benefit Society, with an open membership to the community, with all members able to vote and ensure the project is community owned. A community fund will be created from surplus income, to pay for feasibility studies for further projects, or offer grants to local community groups, as well as ensure the inclusive activities offered by the centres are sustained due to saving energy costs.
York Community Energy
Awarded £39,973 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of a solar-to-rail scheme on sites close to the Hambleton Junction. A Special Purpose Vehicle will be created which will ensure that there’s a minimum of 50% community ownership: Post-commissioning, York Community Energy ownership will be refinanced through a community share offer or bond issue. The surplus income generated will form a community fund to support projects and organisations that the local community deem to be most important, including low carbon technologies to local buildings.
Sheffield Renewables
Awarded £40,000 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of a 2-5MWp solar PV on Doncaster’s logistics roof space, aiming to connect these arrays via private wire to the Potteric Carr SFC and supply rail demand, under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement, should this be deemed feasible. A Special Purpose Vehicle will be created which will ensure that there’s a minimum of 50% community ownership: Post-commissioning, Sheffield Renewables ownership will be refinanced through a community share offer. Profits will be distributed locally and will be targeted at households affected by fuel poverty or energy advice services to those in fuel poverty.
Rural Design Centre
Awarded £55,250 for Stage 2 project to further develop their project to install EV chargers on 5 separate community buildings across Teesdale. This will give local residents more opportunity to change to EV vehicles and also offer the facility to visitors, to make sure Teesdale are not left behind without adequate charging facilities as the number of EV vehicles increase. This project will deliver EV charging infrastructure in deep rural areas and communities with high deprivation, where public charging is scarce, expensive, and often poorly maintained. Offering local discounts of up to 10% and the annual surplus will be reinvested into a community fund for local priorities. The project will explore community share offers and cooperative models, to ensure the community ownership.
Craghead Community Association
Awarded £37,850 for Stage 1 project to investigate the feasibility of a local flexibility cell involving coordinated battery storage, existing rooftop solar systems and domestic EV chargers in the village of Craghead. As well as lowering energy costs to householders and improving resilience, the revenue generated from the project will flow back into a community fund, supporting further installations and tackling fuel poverty. The feasibility study will identify an appropriate Community Benefit Society structure to manage the coordination and oversight, ensuring transparency and equitable benefit sharing, ensuring it is at least 50% community owned.