The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has today launched its
latest topic to investigate within the workstream considering
technological innovation and climate change: community energy.
Community energy projects involve groups of people coming
together to purchase, manage, generate or reduce consumption of
energy. Since most community energy projects focus on renewable
power and/or energy efficiency, they could play a vital role in
the decarbonisation of energy and heat, which is vital as the UK
edges closer to the 2050 target to be net-zero.
As of 2020, community energy contributed 278MW of renewable
energy and heat to the energy system. It has been estimated that
by 2030, the community energy sector could power 2.2 million
homes, saving 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions
every year.
For community energy schemes to be successful, projects will
require appropriate funding and policy support. Until 2017, there
was a steady growth of the UK’s community energy sector, largely
driven by the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme that provided payment
to individuals for their own energy generation. The scheme closed
to new applications in 2019. In 2020, the Government introduced
the Smart Export Guarantee as a new initiative. Unlike the FiT
scheme, the Smart Export Guarantee pays for excess energy put
into the grid rather than energy produced.
The EAC will be considering these issues in greater depth and
will invite written submissions before holding a one-off evidence
session. Following previous sessions in this series, the
Committee has often written to Ministers to seek further
information on the Government’s approach to such innovations.
Environmental Audit Committee Chairman, Rt Hon MP, said:
“As part of our inquiry into Technological Innovation and Climate
Change, we are considering a variety of innovations that could
play a role in net zero Britain. As most community energy
projects now focus on renewable power or energy efficiency, we
will be looking at how the technology used in these projects can
decarbonise heat and energy supply. I invite anyone with
knowledge of community energy initiatives to share that knowledge
with the Committee by making a written submission.”
Terms of reference
The Committee is inviting written submissions, with a deadline of
19th March 2021, on the issues outlined below:
- What contribution could community energy (through renewable
power and/or energy efficiency) make to achieving net zero by
2050 in the energy sector and its potential role in decarbonising
the heat and transport sectors?
- How well are the financial and technical needs of setting up
and running community energy projects met by existing Government
support mechanisms? What changes would be needed to the access or
nature of support to develop community energy further?
- What are the main barriers to development of new community
energy schemes under the current regulatory regime? Do lack of
connection or high access charges to the electricity grid pose an
obstacle? How could these be overcome?
- What role should Ofgem play in supporting community energy
and resolving regulatory issues, such as decentralisation and
incorporating community energy projects into smart electricity
grids?
- What role can local authorities play in developing community
energy, for example in planning, decision making and the
availability of sites for energy generation?
- How can policy ensure that community energy projects maximise
their positive impacts (social, environmental, economic) on the
local communities?
- What are exemplars of successful community energy systems
from across the UK’s urban and rural communities; what makes them
so successful?
