Shared Ownership: Powering Communities, Accelerating Projects
What is Shared Ownership?
Shared ownership in community energy means that local people can invest in and co-own renewable energy projects with developers in their area. That means clean energy, local benefits, and a say in how local energy is produced and managed.
Our shared ownership work builds on the Local Power Plan launched in February 2026 – the largest public investment in community energy in history – which cites shared ownership as a leading example of giving local communities a formal stake in local renewable energy projects. This partnership model between communities and developers goes beyond traditional funding structures, aligning with the plan’s vision to put wealth and power back into communities.
For Community Energy Groups:
- Long-term, meaningful revenue: Provides a direct stake in a local project’s ongoing income, creating a more substantial and sustained financial stream than one-off funds.
- Amplified local impact: Combine revenue with community benefit funds to direct money to local priorities like home retrofit schemes and energy advice services.
- Drives decarbonisation: Proven to encourage green behaviours and build local acceptance for new developments.
- Tap into historic funding: Potentially leverage up to £1 billion in new grants, loans, and expert support from Great British Energy to develop projects and take up ownership stakes.
- Shape the future: Help define how the Government’s potential mandate for shared ownership (currently under review) will work in practice.
For Developers:
- Align with Government policy: Shared ownership is evolving into a central pillar of the UK’s energy strategy. The government is actively reviewing a mandatory shared ownership offer for new projects.
- Expedite project delivery: Shared ownership can provide a backdrop of local support throughout the planning process and can reduce delays.
- Gain a competitive edge: Future projects with shared ownership components could benefit from market-based incentives, such as faster grid connections and increasing local acceptability.
- Expert support available: We are currently delivering seven shared ownership solar projects across England. CEPathways can provide the financial, legal, engagement and administrative expertise to help communities have a stake in locally produced energy and to support developers to integrate shared ownership into planned or existing sites.
Shared ownership in practice
Shared ownership is not a single model and can be structured in different ways depending on project scale, risk appetite and community capability. In practice, three approaches are used:
1. Joint venture
An SPV is established with a typical 90/10 or 80/20 equity split between developer and community. The developer retains responsibility for planning, grid, construction and operations, while the community invests through a Community Benefit Society, usually funded via a share offer. All or part of the community benefit funding can also be channelled into the CBS.
2. Split site
The asset is physically divided, with the community taking on planning, sometimes grid, construction and operational risk for its portion of the scheme.
3. Shared revenue
The community purchases a contractual share of project revenues, without taking equity or establishing a formal ownership structure.
These models allow shared ownership to be tailored to the commercial and delivery requirements of individual schemes, rather than applied as a one-size-fits-all approach.
What is a Community Benefit Fund?
Community Benefit Funds (CBFs) are financial contributions from developers directed to local communities, typically managed through local committees to address shared priorities. These funds can support a wide range of local projects, including green spaces, energy advice, retrofit grants, education, and infrastructure improvements. Ideally.
CBFs should be negotiated at the pre-planning stage, often with the support of a third party such as a Community Energy Group to represent the council and community. If not secured then, the period between planning consent and development offers another window to establish the fund and its governance. Effective negotiation involves a range of stakeholders including local authorities, councillors, parish councils, and community members and may include setting up a Community Benefit Society, if there isn’t one local to the site, to manage the funds transparently.
Shared ownership ensures the benefits of the energy transition are shared fairly, creating a win-win for communities and developers alike.
Ready to explore shared ownership?