The regional Mayor, Helen Godwin, has warmly welcomed the biggest investment in community energy in British history, inspired by the country’s biggest on-shore wind turbine – here in the West of England. Today’s Local Power Plan is set to invest up to £1 billion to help support locally-owned clean energy generation projects.
Announcing the plan, the government has praised “pioneering community energy projects” including the country’s largest on-shore wind turbine in Lawrence Weston, Bristol, for helping inspire the new programme and for “transforming Britain”. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has visited the West Country wind-power site and highlighted it in the House of Commons during the passage of the Great British Energy Act; Jürgen Maier, Chair of Great British Energy, last year joined the region’s trailblazing community energy sector during a visit to the West.
The community-owned wind turbine generates enough clean power to power over 3,000 homes through the grid, cutting pollution each year by the equivalent amount generated by a petrol-powered car driving 8.6 million miles. The 150-metre-tall wind turbine was delivered by Ambition Community Energy CIC on Bristol City Council owned land near to Ambition Lawrence Weston, a local charity.
The £5.5 million project received funding from a range of partners, with £500,000 awarded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority from the European Regional Development Fund. The combined authority has invested some £14 million to date in clean power projects – including £3.6 million supporting community energy projects. This work helps safeguard our future energy supply and cut people’s bills with reliable power, bolstered in October when the Mayor and council leaders approved plans to invest to cut more than 20 schools’ energy bills by £1.6 million thanks to funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero through Great British Energy and local councils.
Clean energy is a key growth sector in the West’s Growth Strategy, which aims to generate another 135 megawatts of clean energy and, more widely, create 72,000 new jobs across the region over the coming decade. In the last ten years, job growth in clean energy (+140%) here in the country’s fastest growing regional economy outperformed that elsewhere – including London. The Severn Estuary is one of five growth zones set out in the plan, including ambitions for tidal lagoons as recently highlighted by the Mayor on BBC Politics West.
The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority is among the regional bodies to share £16 million from Great British Energy already. The combined authority has signed a new partnership agreement with the publicly owned clean energy company to support renewable energy across the region, including to explore a new pilot project. Last year, schools, children’s centres, and libraries in the West were awarded funding for rooftop solar panels to help cut their bills with clean power.
The government is building clean, homegrown power at every level, from community owned projects to major large-scale infrastructure. Last month delivered a record-breaking offshore wind auction, and today confirmed the results for new solar and onshore wind projects – putting the UK on track for its 2030 clean power target. Great British Energy aims to support an initial 1,000 clean energy projects, helping to deliver clean power by 2030 while improving energy security for the whole country and protecting billpayers.
Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said:
“Last month, the West hosted the Energy Minister to launch the Warm Homes Plan – a £15 billion investment to help people stay warm without needing to turn the heating on, thanks to insulation and heat pump grants.
“This week, the West can once again be proud of our environmental credentials. A local wind turbine project in Bristol has helped inspire a new £1 billion national programme, giving communities the power to generate their own clean energy and help cut pollution.
“I’m excited to continue working with the government, GB Energy, and regional partners to get our share of new funding to help local people see and feel a difference from community-powered energy projects.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
“Britain’s drive for clean energy is about answering the call for a different kind of economy that works for the many, not just the wealthy and powerful in our society. Local and community energy is at the heart of our government’s vision.
“With the biggest ever investment in community energy in Britain’s history, this government is saying to every local community: we want you to be able to own and control clean energy so the profits flow into your community not simply out to the big energy companies.
“By giving local people the chance to take control of their energy, this government is making a fundamental choice to transfer wealth and power back to communities across Britain.”
Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said:
“Strong communities are the backbone of our society. When they’re thriving, we are all better for it.
“Our Pride in Place programme backs communities with the tools and funding they need so that community centres can be built for neighbours to meet, football pitches can be maintained for local teams to play, and young people can pick up hobbies and make lifelong friends.
“The Local Power Plan takes this further – empowering communities by giving them ownership of their own clean energy and keeping the wealth it generates right where it belongs.”
Great British Energy CEO Dan McGrail said:
“Communities are at the heart of Great British Energy’s mission. Local and community projects create cleaner, more secure and more affordable energy for our communities.
“We are investing up to £1 billion into community and local energy projects so that people up and down the country can feel the benefit of public ownership with purpose.”
The ACE wind turbine project was part financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme. The Department for Communities and Local Government was the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.gov.uk/browse/business/funding-debt/european-regional-development-funding
