Community energy schemes
With the focus on decentralised energy and The Big Society, this
is the time to promote community led energy schemes.
Community energy schemes allow local people to fund, implement
and benefit from renewable energy opportunities. This approach
allows development of necessary carbon neutral energy
infrastructure while giving the local community the opportunity to
control their environments and benefit directly from the
development.
Allerdale is well suited to wind developments, wood burners and
anaerobic digestion. Solar schemes are proving a popular choice for
community schemes.
The government is promoting this type of development through the
Feed in Tariff (FITS) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which
provide payments for the energy produced for a significant period
of time, up to 25 years for solar PV.
The benefits of a community energy scheme are:
- Communities can directly access renewable energy
- Communities can receive FITS or RHI payments
- Communities can sell excess energy through the Export
Tariff
- Reduced energy bills
- Community ownership and control of developments
- Increased buying power