Community Energy

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.

Community energy groups are important stakeholders to us at Western Power Distribution. We are committed to working proactively with ours.

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.

Join our community energy conversation

What is Community Energy?

Community energy covers aspects of collective action to reduce, purchase, manage and generate energy.

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:

Local engagement

Local leadership

Democratic control

Local community benefit

Explore

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.