Community energy refers to the delivery of community led renewable energy, energy demand reduction and energy supply projects, whether wholly owned and/or controlled by communities or through partnership with commercial or public sector partners.
Conversations are free and we encourage you to talk to us early encourages Alison Sleightholm, Resources and External Affairs Director, Western Power Distribution.
We pride ourselves on early engagement so we encourage you to make contact early on in your project.
Community energy groups can also play a role in projects and trials led by others, such as local authorities, energy companies and network operators. Their excellent links to the local people and businesses mean they are trusted intermediaries. Community energy projects have an emphasis on:
Currently the network in some areas is constrained because it wasn’t designed for two way flows of electricity. Flexible smart solutions to balance the supply of electricity and increasing demand at a local level can overcome these challenges and provide exciting opportunities for communities to get involved. With this in mind, Western Power Distribution have been running a number of innovation trials. Summaries of these trials can be found in our case studies section.