Across the UK, hundreds of groups have come together to work towards a clean, democratically owned supply of energy: ‘Community energy’.
We share this bold vision for the future. In fact, we helped develop it, having installed the very first community-funded installation in Oxford in 2008. It’s a vision that’s very different from the past century, when a handful of large corporations owned and controlled our energy system. Community energy means clean generation that reduces carbon emissions and is owned by, and benefits, the local community.
Community groups use their local knowledge to identify sites for solar. Schools are an obvious example, but other community buildings and local businesses are also viable as host sites.
The community group then raises the finance to fund the scheme. Once built, the host site purchases the generated electricity from the community group at a subsidised rate, through a contract known as a Power Purchase Agreement. The community group then uses this income to pay back their investors, typically at around 5% per year. There’s usually a surplus fund produced that can then fund other environmental projects within the local area.
It’s a win for the investors, a win for the host site, and a win for the wider community. What’s not to love?
Members of the local community can get involved in any number of ways. They can simply invest in the scheme, get involved in finding sites and developing projects, or contributing ideas to spend surplus funds in creative and environmentally beneficial ways. Indeed, the social value these projects bring to our communities is beyond a doubt.
We’re proud to have been pioneers of community energy from the very beginning. We built the first community share-funded solar installation in the UK in 2008 and have continued to work closely with community groups across the country ever since.
Community Energy England reports that 155 MW of community solar has been built in the UK. Joju Solar has installed approximately 10% of this total. While the national figure includes large solar farm developments, all of Joju’s community solar projects have been delivered on rooftops.
To date, we have installed hundreds of community energy systems across a wide range of sites.
Some highlights of our community energy work include:
Newport’s Geraint Thomas Velodrome hosts the largest solar roof in Wales.
The Egni Coop community energy group documented the entire installation process
in this short film
We’re highly experienced and well-connected within the community energy sector. That means we’re very well placed to help any community energy group develop their projects.
If you’re a community energy group looking at developing a portfolio of projects, we can help with the initial scoping, viability and pricing of the sites. As portfolios progress, we manage all of the technical side – grid connection applications, site surveys, and planning guidance. And when it comes to the installation phase, we undertake the full suite of pre-start meetings, H&S assessments, installation, commissioning, and maintenance aftercare.
We are also often approached by commercial buildings, who would like to go solar but don’t have the funds readily available to build a project. Here, we can use our network of community energy groups to introduce you to a community energy partner to raise the finance and sell you the electricity via a Power Purchase Agreement. This is how M&S came to install community-funded solar on some of their flagship stores, for example.
Alan Clark Award for Local/Community Energy 2024, with NLCE
Alan Clark Award 2021, alongside Salisbury Community Energy
But why not have local charge points that are owned by, and benefit, the local community? Could a community group own the chargers in their region? Drivers would then pay to use the charge points, and the funds generated would then return to the local community. Perhaps schools and other community focal points will double up as charging hubs for residents that don’t have their own driveways? There’s a lot of exciting possibilities here, and we’d love to explore them with you.
Explore how community energy projects work, the benefits, and discover more about how local groups developing and owning renewable energy assets.
