UK Government Unveils Record £1bn Investment in Community-Owned Energy
The UK government has announced the largest public investment in community energy in the country’s history, committing up to £1 billion to help towns and villages own and control their own clean power generation. Delivered through Great British Energy and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the new Local Power Plan is designed to cut energy bills, strengthen energy security and ensure profits from renewable generation are retained within local communities.
The funding will support locally owned clean energy projects ranging from rooftop solar installations on libraries, leisure centres and community buildings to larger shared-ownership renewable schemes. Ministers say the programme marks a decisive shift toward an “ownership revolution,” enabling revenues from clean energy to be reinvested into community centres, places of worship, social clubs and other local assets rather than flowing to major energy suppliers.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband described the initiative as a transfer of wealth and power back to communities, positioning local energy at the heart of the UK’s transition to clean power by 2030. The plan aims to support an initial 1,000 projects and address long-standing barriers that have constrained the sector, including limited access to finance, regulatory complexity and gaps in technical expertise.
Community ownership is significantly more developed in countries such as Germany, where around two-fifths of renewable capacity is citizen-owned. By combining direct funding, capability building, business model reform and potential regulatory changes — including consultation on shared ownership requirements — the government hopes to unlock similar growth in the UK.
If successfully delivered, the Local Power Plan could represent a structural shift in the UK energy system — embedding clean generation within communities and turning the energy transition into a source of local economic resilience as well as decarbonisation.