On 4 July, the UK electorate put their trust in Labour to form our new government, a party with plans to significantly advance community energy initiatives.
With the Labour Party making bold pledges to invest £8 billion in putting a new government-owned power company, Great British Energy (GB Energy), at the heart of the UK’s energy system, this marks an exciting shift from lack of investment and political will that previously held us back, to a government committed to local energy generation for local benefit.
What is GB Energy?
GB Energy will perform as a state-owned investment vehicle and company working in partnership with the existing private sector suppliers to finance and help to build low-carbon infrastructure – from windfarms and nuclear reactors to community-owned solar.
Rather than offering electricity directly to consumers, GB Energy will be largely invisible to households as it works with partners behind-the-scenes to help create an energy system that relies more on homegrown renewables that make our energy cheaper in the long run.
A “clean energy superpower”
With Keir Starmer vowing to “close the door on Putin” by turning Britain into a “clean energy superpower”, GB Energy will be a crucial part of helping Labour achieve another election promise: to create a virtually zero carbon electricity system by 2030.
£5bn is being set aside to invest in supply chains and new technology projects like floating offshore windfarms and solar panels for social housing developments. Further to this, around £3.3bn is earmarked for Labour’s Local Power Plan, which aims to provide funding to local authorities and communities to build small-scale clean power projects.
GB Energy’s three initial priorities:
Great British Energy will have three initial priorities working alongside private partners:
1
Co-investing in new technologies:
GB Energy will help speed up and scale the deployment of new technologies, with public investment helping to crowdfund investment in areas like floating offshore wind, tidal power and hydrogen as they develop into mature technologies.
2
Scale and accelerate mature technologies:
GB Energy will also help scale and accelerate the roll-out of mature technologies, like wind, solar and nuclear. It will partner with existing private sector firms to speed up deployment of mature renewable technologies to meet our ambitious clean power timelines. It will also build organisational capability and expertise to deliver energy megaprojects like nuclear power stations, reducing project and construction risk.
3
Scale up municipal and community energy:
GB Energy will partner with energy companies, local authorities and cooperatives to develop 8GWs small-scale and medium-scale community energy projects. Profits will flow directly back into local communities to cut bills, not to the shareholders of foreign companies. This will help to create a more decentralised energy system, with more local generation and ownership, and will help to create a more resilient energy system.
A step-change for UK community energy
Industry executives believe that the clearest opportunity to make a difference in the energy sector for GB Energy as a publicly owned energy company, is in community energy: small-scale local projects such as wind or solar farms and rooftop arrays. This is apparent when you consider that government-owned energy companies are standard across Europe, many of which work closely with city councils and municipalities to develop community-scale projects that cumulatively make a major difference to reaching national clean energy goals.
As the Guardian reports: “…In the German city of Bedburg in North Rhine-Westphalia, the company built a €30m windfarm that generates enough electricity to meet the demand of 28,000 households – more than the city’s homes and businesses combined. “It works because there is a willingness from the local community – they ask for the project, and RWE helps to make it happen,” said one industry source.”
GB Energy has the potential to galvanise a step-change in community energy. What’s really exciting about this is that the Labour government is talking about a “solar rooftop revolution” in the UK that will see millions of homes fitted with solar panels. This marks a wonderful opportunity to accelerate the growth of community energy and bring about all its amazing benefits – not just in crucially bringing down people’s energy bills but in helping to reduce carbon emissions and increase revenues that go directly to local communities. The epitome of what a just transition looks like!
The Local Power Plan
One of the new government’s flagship climate policies, the Local Power Plan, promises up to £400 million annually in low-interest loans to support the development of community-owned energy projects, which is complemented by a pledge to allocate £600 million annually in grants to local authorities.
The Labour Manifesto asserts:
“We will invite communities to come forward with projects, and work with local leaders and devolved governments to ensure local people benefit directly from this energy production."
By 2030, this initiative aims to deliver up to 8GW of new affordable, clean local power —the equivalent output of two nuclear power stations, capable of powering 4.35 million homes. This plan includes the creation of 20,000 new projects, fostering 1 million new energy owners, and bringing tangible economic, social, and community benefits to local residents.
The wider picture
GB Energy alone cannot solve the myriad problems of Britain’s energy industry, or enable the UK to meet its net zero targets single-handedly, but it does offer a significant investment in key areas that support Labour’s energy and cost of living policies.
In total the government’s green plans represent £23.7bn over the parliamentary term. With that, it intends to address the UK’s sluggish planning system, grid connections and green skills. Not to mention, has ambitious plans to double the investment in home insulation from £6.6bn to more than £13bn over the parliamentary term – a figure that the Guardian reports as being the highest amount invested by any government, and that could have an immediate impact on home energy bills and Britain’s carbon emissions.
Some of the critical commitments that support the new government’s broader mission to position Britain as a Clean Energy Superpower include:
- Expanding community shared ownership in commercial renewable projects
- Enabling local supply, allowing communities to sell the energy they generate to local consumers
- Insulating millions of homes
- Addressing grid connection issues, which currently hinder progress toward net zero and local projects
- Promoting onshore wind development
- Implementing Local Area Energy Planning
- Instituting net zero mandates within regulatory and planning frameworks
What this means for us in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes Community Energy is optimistic about the profound impact these policies could have on empowering our local communities and advancing the transition to sustainable energy.
We look forward to collaborating with local leaders and to strengthening our partnership with Milton Keynes City Council to make the most of this funding and bring about the exciting new opportunities that clean, local power could give to our city.
How you can get involved
We have contacted our new MPs to thank them for their party’s support for community energy. Please join us by doing the same, particularly thanking Labour party MPs for recognising the importance and potential of community energy in their Local Power Plan that will now offer hundreds of millions a year to communities and local councils to do community-owned energy projects that deliver cheaper, more secure energy, that comes with huge community benefits.
As Chief Executive of Community Energy England, Emma Bridge, says:
"Community energy projects deliver 12-13 times the community benefit of commercial energy installations so are uniquely well suited to engage local people to participate in the energy transformation. Labour’s Local Power Plan is a win, win, win for communities, local economies and the country."
We want to invite local MPs and leaders to visit our projects and learn how community energy is a win, win, win. But more than anything we need supporters to help us encourage them to champion community energy and specifically the great things we’re doing at Milton Keynes Community Energy.
We want to get the Milton Keynes Community Energy name out there to help make the “solar rooftop revolution” a reality in our city. Please help us by talking about us with friends, family, colleagues and local business and community influencers.
Connect with us on social media, in blogs, through emails and letters, and join us by subscribing to our mailing list, volunteering with us and/or investing as a member.
If you are interested in joining our board to help steer our progress, please get in touch by emailing us at: [email protected] or learn more about us on our website: https://mkcommunityenergy.co.uk/
