DENZ - Unlocking community energy at scale

Inquiry

The Committee has launched an inquiry into community energy. The Committee aims to:

• identify potential solutions to the financial and regulatory barriers facing community energy projects, including how to establish local supply;

• consider the role of the Local Power Plan in supporting community energy; and 

• assess how reforms to the planning system, grid connections and the energy market could support the growth of community energy at scale.

Call for Evidence

Terms of Reference

The committee is now inviting evidence from individuals and organisations on any or all of the following questions:

• How could the Local Power Plan to be produced by Great British Energy build upon existing community energy support schemes, such as the Community Energy Fund?  

• How should the energy market and licensing regulations be reformed to enable community energy projects to sell the electricity that they generate to local customers, without the current barriers, and be properly remunerated for doing so? What lessons can be learnt from other jurisdictions?  

• How could existing government support mechanisms, such as the Smart Export Guarantee, provide community energy projects with more financial certainty?  

• What are the regulatory solutions needed to minimise the high costs and long delays incurred in securing a grid connection for community energy projects?  

• Should the local benefits of community energy projects be formally recognised as a material consideration in planning decisions?  

• What should be the role of Neighbourhood Plans and Local Area Energy Plans in building local support for community energy projects?   

• What is the potential for community energy to incentivise consumer demand flexibility at the scale needed to achieve the UK’s net zero targets? 

Submissions should be no more than 3,000 words and should not include material that is already published. The deadline for submitting written evidence is 17:00 on Monday 13 January 2025.

Start here

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