Authored by Ollie Pendered & Asmaa Elsouda
The UK’s energy system is changing rapidly from a centralised national model towards localised, distributed infrastructure. As households switch to heat pumps, electric vehicles become the norm, and local renewable generation expands, the energy transition will increasingly happen at a neighbourhood level.
This presents an unprecedented opportunity for community energy – energy projects that are owned, led or shaped by local people for local benefit. Community energy can help reduce bills, tackle fuel poverty, keep investment within local economies and ensure the benefits of the energy transition are shared more fairly.
But not every community is equally positioned to take advantage of these opportunities. At Community Energy Pathways, our 15 years’ experience has taught us that light touch community engagement is not enough to build a sustainable community energy project, or to generate local buy-in for local clean energy developments. As policy initiatives such as GB Energy’s Local Power Plan, Warm Homes Plan, and Ofgem’s ED3 Build and Flex ambitions place greater emphasis on local delivery, towns, parishes and neighbourhoods will need the capacity, motivation and system support to participate effectively. In other words, they will need ‘community readiness’.
What do we mean by community readiness?
Community readiness refers to how prepared a community is to organise itself to tackle an energy challenge and successfully develop local energy projects.
A community readiness framework can help identify strengths, gaps and pathways for development, and ensure that communities are not excluded simply for having no previous local energy project experience. This is useful for communities because it can help them demonstrate their capacity to participate in emerging opportunities. For local authorities, a community readiness framework allows them to assess whether the foundations are in place for successful community-led delivery, so that they may then target resources effectively.
Drawing on fifteen years of experience supporting community energy initiatives across England, we believe community readiness rests on three interconnected pillars:
- Community Capacity
Does the community have the skills and resources to act?
This includes local leadership, volunteer capacity, organisational and technical skills, access to funding, meeting spaces, and existing community organisations that can drive activity forward.
- Community Motivation
Does the community want to act?
Communities need awareness of the energy transition and the opportunities it presents, but also a sense that collective action can make a difference. Trust in local institutions and a shared vision all play a critical role in turning awareness into action.
- System Readiness
Is the wider local system prepared to support community action?
Community energy requires a healthy local ecosystem as it does not happen in isolation. Local authorities, network operators, public asset owners, businesses and training providers all have a role to play. A community is more likely to succeed when these organisations are aligned, supportive and ready to collaborate.
Together, these three factors create the conditions for successful community energy projects. While few places will have all these conditions in place from day one, strengthening any one area often helps unlock progress in the others.
A future with community readiness
Imagine a market town in 2030. The local authority has identified opportunities through its Local Area Energy Plan and actively supports community-led delivery. Residents understand the benefits of local energy and a group of volunteers have formed a community energy enterprise. Local schools, businesses and public buildings are willing partners, providing sites for solar installations and community engagement activities.
The group begins by offering trusted energy advice and retrofit support. Over time, it develops community-owned renewable energy projects that supply local businesses, collaborates with national developers on shared ownership projects and participates in local flexibility markets and reinvests revenue into tackling fuel poverty and supporting further decarbonisation. They have a lively energy hub on the thriving local high street.
For too long, we have thought of community energy groups as entrepreneurs trying to build discreet energy projects, rather than embedded members of a community with the relationships, skills, confidence and institutional support needed to shape its own energy future.
As the UK’s energy transition accelerates, building community readiness will be just as important as building the physical energy system infrastructure if we want local people to play a meaningful role in delivering a cleaner, fairer and more resilient energy system.
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If you’re interested in supporting community readiness, reach out to contact@communityenergypathways.org.uk