Our story
We are an umbrella organisation that helps local community energy groups and organisations to successfully grow low-carbon businesses across the South East. We started life in 2011, beginning by mentoring 12 community energy organisations across Sussex through a program funded by the Cabinet Office and match funded by West Sussex County Council.
Over time, as the original 12 organisations became established, we expanded, building partnerships with industry stakeholders such as UK Power Networks and supporting the community energy sector to develop their community businesses and deliver renewable energy business cases through funding such as RCEF (Rural Community Energy Fund) projects.
Five years ago, Essex County Council came to us – they had no community energy groups in the county – and asked for help to develop a step-by-step framework for growing successful community energy initiatives. We developed an approach based on best-practice community engagement and community energy peer mentoring which includes reviewing group interests and clustering groups together to form networks. This was the start of our Community Energy Pathways programme which has since been expanded to Hampshire and South Downs National Park and Surrey.
Each Pathways programme is aligned to the climate change and net-zero strategies of the relevant regional authority. The output of the overarching Pathways initiative is to ensure every region or district authority has a community energy not-for-profit business that represents it.
GB Energy’s Local Power Plan has committed to making shared ownership a priority, and with the Great British Energy Bill now passed into law, it is essential for community energy groups to help shape the vision of shared ownership.
Our communications and mentoring process is very similar across all of our Pathways programs and it's a vital part of the initiative. The response from the people and groups we support is hugely positive – they are incredibly keen to learn, and we are committed to getting them to the stage where they can stand on their feet and ideally employ a paid officer.
As we target 2030 and step up our net-zero goals, the Community Energy Pathways organisations will become key stakeholders for delivering ambitious targets within local authorities. CEPathways is currently working on seven shared ownership solar farm projects with two developers: social impact investor Thrive Renewables and Quintas Cleantech. The sites are located across England in Essex, Kent, Bedford, Suffolk, South Cambridgeshire and East Hampshire. In each case the developer is making up to 10% of the solar farm available to the local community to buy into.
CEPathways aim is to work with local community groups to manage the community share and to oversee any community benefit funds that arise from the planning process. We want everyone to be able to access a community energy group wherever they live and for communities to have the education and resources they need to ensure their communities are powered by renewables. Not only is it the right thing to do for the planet, but it also gives communities control and a vested interest in their own energy usage and can help to tackle fuel poverty.
We are stronger together.
Our advice
If you're thinking about a community energy project, it's really important to get advice from people who have been there before. So many people have done it, and so many people are willing to help. Reach out to Community Energy South to ensure you're on the right track – get started by joining our webinars and building connections to other communities.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the number of active community energy groups established or supported – measuring growth in local capacity and representation across regions; the amount of renewable energy capacity developed or facilitated (kW/MW) – tracking tangible contribution to local net-zero goals through shared ownership and community projects; number of people or groups trained, mentored, or involved in Pathways programmes and local energy projects; number and total value of community benefit funds managed, and local reinvestment generated through shared ownership schemes.
