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| coen:community_energy [2026/03/10 12:37] – external edit 127.0.0.1 | coen:community_energy [2026/03/26 18:33] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| # Community energy | This topic is part of [[gt:community|Community & culture]], [[gt:economy|Economy & finance]] and [[gt:power|Power & heating]]. |
| | ====== Community energy ====== |
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| ## What is community energy? | ===== What is community energy? ===== |
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| It's 'power to the people' - literally, power (and sometimes heat) generation owned by groups of ordinary people. The basic idea of community energy is easy to grasp, but how it's done exactly depends on local and national legislation / regulations at the time. | It's 'power to the people' - literally, power (and sometimes heat) generation owned by groups of ordinary people. The basic idea of community energy is easy to grasp, but how it's done exactly depends on local and national legislation / regulations at the time. |
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| ## What are the benefits of community energy? | ===== What are the benefits of community energy? ===== |
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| It means more renewable energy - which means lower carbon emissions and less pollution. | It means more renewable energy - which means lower carbon emissions and less pollution. |
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| ## What can I do? | ===== What can I do? ===== |
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| ### Starting a scheme | ==== Starting a scheme ==== |
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| First, chat to other local people who may want to do it with you. Then find a local group and go and chat with them. They may need a hand, in which case you'll get valuable experience, and they'll certainly be able to give you good advice to get you started. They can also tell you if there's any start-up support in your part of the country. [Community Energy England](http://communityenergyengland.org/) can provide more information and point you in the right direction; and [here's](http://www.sharenergy.coop/start-a-project/) a guide to starting a community energy project from Sharenergy. There's also [Renew Wales](http://www.renewwales.org.uk/) and [Local Energy Scotland](http://www.localenergyscotland.org/) who can put you in touch with people local to you who can give lots of useful advice. Look at other groups' share offer documents - their core business model will be in there, and it will all be very useful to look over. You need to get the latest financial, technical and business information, as it goes out of date so quickly. | First, chat to other local people who may want to do it with you. Then find a local group and go and chat with them. They may need a hand, in which case you'll get valuable experience, and they'll certainly be able to give you good advice to get you started. They can also tell you if there's any start-up support in your part of the country. [Community Energy England](http://communityenergyengland.org/) can provide more information and point you in the right direction; and [here's](http://www.sharenergy.coop/start-a-project/) a guide to starting a community energy project from Sharenergy. There's also [Renew Wales](http://www.renewwales.org.uk/) and [Local Energy Scotland](http://www.localenergyscotland.org/) who can put you in touch with people local to you who can give lots of useful advice. Look at other groups' share offer documents - their core business model will be in there, and it will all be very useful to look over. You need to get the latest financial, technical and business information, as it goes out of date so quickly. |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| ### Becoming a member of an existing scheme | ==== Becoming a member of an existing scheme ==== |
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| If you want to invest in a community energy project, do a web search for community energy plus where you live. All schemes with share offers have a web presence. Also visit the websites of [Sharenergy](http://www.sharenergy.coop/), [Shares.coop](http://www.shares.coop/) and [Ethex](https://www.ethex.org.uk/) (who often list share offers and other ethical investments). Get yourself on their mailing lists for the latest offers. Membership of some schemes is locally prioritised, others are first come, first served. | If you want to invest in a community energy project, do a web search for community energy plus where you live. All schemes with share offers have a web presence. Also visit the websites of [Sharenergy](http://www.sharenergy.coop/), [Shares.coop](http://www.shares.coop/) and [Ethex](https://www.ethex.org.uk/) (who often list share offers and other ethical investments). Get yourself on their mailing lists for the latest offers. Membership of some schemes is locally prioritised, others are first come, first served. |
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| ## Further resources | ===== Forum ===== |
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| | This topic belongs to the section [[gt:community|Community & culture]]. You can ask questions or add information on the corresponding [Forum section](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/community). |
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| | It is also in the sections |
| | * [[gt:economy|Economy & finance]] (Forum: [Economy & finance](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/economy)) |
| | * [[gt:power|Power & heating]] (Forum: [Power & heating](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/power)) |
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| | ===== Further resources ===== |
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| - [Community Energy England](https://communityenergyengland.org/) | - [Community Energy England](https://communityenergyengland.org/) |
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| ## Related topics | ===== Related topics ===== |
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| | - [Co-operatives](coop:co-operatives) |
| | - [Community](comy:community) |
| | - [Commons economy](coec:commons_economy) |
| | - [Wind generators](wind:wind_generators) |
| | - [Solar electricity](soel:solar_electricity) |
| | - [Micro-hydro](mhdr:micro-hydro) |
| | - [Biomass boilers](biom:biomass_boilers) |
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| ## Specialist curators of this topic | ===== Specialist curators of this topic ===== |
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