Bristol Community Energy: Catalyst Fund
Bristol Community Energy: Catalyst Fund
Supporting the development of community-owned and driven sustainable energy projects in the Bristol area
Bristol City Council has set up a scheme to support the development of community-owned and community-driven sustainable energy enterprises and projects in the Bristol area.
The Bristol Community Energy Catalyst Fund is a £50,000 revolving fund that aims to help community projects make the transition from a well-thought-through idea, to a successful working enterprise.
The fund will provide access to finance to help community based enterprises and projects break through key business development hurdles. These might include:
- costs for professional expertise
- legal documentation
- market research
- technical analysis
- feasibility studies
- financial modelling
Start up and capital funding are likely to be outside the scope of the fund, except in exceptional cases where such funding could be shown to be the catalyst needed for success.
To support the whole community energy sector across the city, the plan is that useful products that come out of work supported by the fund (e.g. a feasibility study, market research or case studies) will be made available to other community organisations.
Councillor Neil Harrison, assistant executive member for sustainability, said: "The Council has a strong strategy for renewable energy production and energy efficiency, but no organisation has all the answers. We want to see a diverse and flexible approach to energy in the city and this includes seeding new grass-roots community-led organisations."
Applications and support
The deadline for the current round of funding has now closed (Monday 12 September). Details on future rounds of funding will be released shortly.
The maximum investment will be around £15,000 but it’s expected most applications would be for smaller amounts. Applicants will be asked to treat the funding award as an investment which they should plan to repay from the early success of their project or enterprise whenever possible. In this way, the Fund will be steadily replenished, enabling other community initiatives to take advantage of this support in the future. Investment decisions will be made by a Fund Board comprising representatives from key Bristol institutions.
Off to a good start
Two Bristol based groups have already been awarded funding.
The first of these is the newly formed Bristol Energy Co-operative which plans to start a local ‘power station’ on our rooftops.
The group will use the Catalyst Fund investment to underpin the legal and business planning needed to set up a community owned social enterprise which will install solar panels on community buildings across Bristol. The scheme will be owned by Bristol people and will help to reduce carbon emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels for providing electricity. The money earned from generating solar power will be put back into projects to support energy efficiency improvements and more renewable energy schemes.
The second group that applied successfully for funding was the Saxon Road Green Space group.
They had garnered a huge amount of support locally, carried out a lot of research as a group and developed their plans as far as possible including identifying the technology that looked most suitable to meet local needs given the potential of the local area. They will use funding for an 'options assessment' to look at how they can take forward their plans for energy efficiency and renewable energy in St Werburghs.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of CSE, said: “This is a great start for the Fund, investing in community groups to provide the catalyst that will help them turn their sustainable energy ideas into viable enterprises. This first round of investment proves that Bristol is a hotbed of practical community-based sustainable energy action.”
Training workshops
To support applicants to the first round of the fund, CSE organised and delivered two training and advisory workshops on ‘developing your community energy project’. The sessions, both evening events, were well attended and featured an introduction to the Catalyst Fund followed by practical exercises, revolving table discussions and a question and answer session to finish.
Bridget Newbery presented the workshops. "The sessions were an excellent opportunity for community group members to consider different elements of funding, finances, public engagement and legal issues relevant to their community energy project," she said. "They were also attended by people from community groups who are interested in setting up a community energy project but not yet ready to apply to the fund – demonstrating the depth of interest in the subject in Bristol."
If you would like more help with setting up a community energy project, the PlanLoCaL suite of resources (including videos, information sheets and ‘getting started’ exercises) could be really useful for you.