The community energy sector delivers a wide range of services tackling both the climate crisis and fuel poverty, from locally owned solar PV installations, delivering energy bill savings for organisations and individuals, to trusted low carbon retrofit and energy advice services to communities across the UK.

However, there are some gaps in the support available, which is why The Energy Learning Network has been formed. The Network will create and promote accessible resources that support the establishment, development and delivery of community energy projects. There will be specific opportunities for peer mentoring support for community energy organisations and shared learning opportunities to expand skills and grow the sector.

A group of like-minded partners

Joining the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) are organisations that strive to make a difference in the community energy space. This includes Community Energy England, Community Energy Scotland, Community Energy Wales, Action Renewables and Ashden Climate Solutions.

“We are really excited to be part of the partnership delivering this network”, said Megan Blyth, Project Manager at CSE. “Community energy is something CSE has been supporting for a long time and is critical for our transition to a green, smart and fair energy system.”

“By partnering with the other ELN partners, we hope to take our support out to new areas of the community energy sector across the UK.”

The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund is financing the Energy Learning Network, part of its £100m commitment over 10 years to support communities to act on climate change and encourage more people to be involved. This forms part of one of the funder’s four key missions in its 2030 strategy, ‘It starts with community’.  

Diversifying how people engage with climate action

CSE’s role within the Energy Learning Network is to:

• Support existing community energy organisations to get a more diverse range of voices involved in their operations and projects.
• Facilitate new entrants into the growing sector.
• Work with town, parish and community councils to act as enablers of community energy.

To do this, CSE will be coordinating the following three strands of work.

1. Widening participation: workshops and ongoing support for community groups to remove barriers to participation.

Over two years, we will work with community energy organisations through a series of action learning workshops and ongoing support. CSE will design workshops to help organisations widen participation in their projects by identifying and removing barriers to involvement. We’ll also help organisations adapt their approach to consider more diverse voices in the design and delivery of projects and their internal operations.

CSE will cover topics including applying Equality, Diversity and Inclusion best practices in community energy organisations, designing more inclusive membership offers, and ensuring that engagement and consultation methods involve a diverse range of people within communities.

2. Broadening the sector: webinars to promote community action on energy.

We will run a series of webinars and reflective workshops for the wider Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector. These webinars will showcase community-level action and how to deliver impactful local energy projects. Additional support for those entering the community energy sector will help them develop key skills and knowledge to enact changes.

CSE will cover topics including introducing the role community organisations have in the energy transition, accessing funding to develop community-led energy projects, and supporting local communities to access energy efficiency and fuel poverty advice and support.

3. Workshops to showcase the value of community energy parish, town and community councils.

Over two years, we will work with local and community councils through a series of action learning workshops and ongoing support. This will build their capacity to engage with community energy and how to make meaningful, local changes.

Some topics that will be covered include convening local people to develop community energy projects, including supportive policies within neighbourhood or community plans, how to help community organisations access funding to develop local energy projects.