Central Bedfordshire Council: Community Energy

Central Bedfordshire Council adopted their Sustainability Plan in 2020 in which the council set out their ambitions to enable a net zero Central Bedfordshire by 2030. It is recognised that the community plays an important role in achieving this ambition and the council needs to support and enable local communities to deliver local energy projects and help their residents with their journey to net zero. 

The Pathways programme offered by Community Energy South helped to identify local interest in community energy projects and support interested residents to come together and kick start community energy in our area. Prior to Pathways starting there were no community energy groups in the area. 

Community Energy South has delivered several training events on topics such as assessing technical and financial feasibility of potential projects, legal aspects of running community energy groups and raising funding in communities for their projects. These have allowed groups to identify their first ‘power-up’ projects to install PV panels on public buildings. Groups are now undertaking their first full feasibility assessments of their projects. 
 
Community Energy South has also provided groups with an opportunity to access funding to undertake ‘powering down’ projects. This allowed groups to train energy champions and offer local residents energy advice on lowering their energy usage, insulating homes, and installing renewable energy to lower their bills and carbon footprint. 
 
The constituted community energy groups have been fortunate to have received additional funding from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund to accelerate potential projects to the feasibility stage. This activity is being funded up to the end of March 2025. 

The pathways scheme is a three-year programme, and after the end of the period, the council will continue to engage with the new community energy groups via their sustainability team. The initial development fund paid for the group's setup costs and delivered first powering up projects that will enable groups to generate income that is to be reinvested into new projects will help groups to become self-sufficient. 

Setting up a development fund that groups can access helps the groups to kickstart their activity and become active in their local communities. Projects like the Pathways are only successful by casting the net wide and finding key individual with common interests, and who are willing to share their skills voluntarily. The key to progressing and ensuring momentum in this area is having a long-term view of the impacts. Community Energy South have been integral to the success of the project, along with the residents who have stepped up to volunteer their time.