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. Historically a handful of massive corporations owned and controlled our power system, creating pollution along the way. A community energy approach means clean generation that is owned by, and benefits, the local community.
There are now hundreds of community energy groups across the country, where people have come together to take meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions. As well as work on energy efficiency, many community groups are also developing their own renewable energy generating assets.
Community groups can use their local knowledge to identify sites. 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, usually at about 5% per year. There’s typically 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 like?
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 finding ways to spend surplus funds in creative and environmentally beneficial ways.
We are 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.
Highlights of our community energy work include:
If you are 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.
Alternatively, we are 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 extensive 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, for example, is how M&S came to install community-funded solar on their supermarkets.
