Funded Energy Redress Projects

Fairy Hill Solar farm is a 2.2MW DC community owned project which has two grid connections at different voltage levels. This unusual design presents a unique opportunity to explore a combination of power purchase agreements at the different voltage levels, creating a significant potential to de-risk the project. 

The low voltage connection opens-up their ability to establish a local supply club. Any low voltage surplus not required by the club will be sold alongside electricity from the high voltage connection to the local authority. A long-term virtual power purchasing agreement (VPPA) will be negotiated with the local authority, to provide long term price security, a critical factor to the project’s viability. 

The local supply club will directly benefit local residents, including those in social housing located near to the solar farm. The local authority will benefit from the project’s carbon savings. 

The project aims to alleviate and prevent fuel poverty and crisis, with the goal of reducing the severe social and economic disadvantage in Derby, by providing energy advice to those most in need. 

Advice will be delivered at five clinics located in churches and community centres across the area. These clinics are relied on by City services and support focused organisations; clients will be referred through a range of partners including social housing providers, food banks, health and social care, churches and other community services. 

As part of the project, they will also produce an energy leaflet targeted at common issues, and provide warm packs for those facing crisis.

Where necessary, the team will also refer clients to National Energy Action and relevant City wide services for additional support.

The project aims to contribute to net zero through a two-pronged community-based initiative.

They will install and maintain a community-owned 262 kWp solar PV ground-mounted array to be situated on a chicken farm near Tisbury, south-west Wiltshire. They will act as 'the generator'. Capital costs will be raised by a local community share offer supplemented with grants. 

Linked to this, they intend to set up an “Energy Local” type scheme to provide cheaper, cleaner electricity to around 50-120 local households who sign up to a collective ('club') purchasing scheme in the same substation area as the new solar array. The Energy Local type model connects the club with the local generator and a designated electricity supplier to agree a special tariff for the locally generated solar energy plus a 'time-of-use' tariff for when the array is not generating. Unused energy will be exported to the grid. 

Surplus income accrued by the generator will be spent on low-carbon or energy-saving community initiatives in the local area.

This project aims to accelerate the development of community owned renewable energy; scaling up both community owned renewable generation as well as the social benefits of the net zero energy transition for South East London. 

They will deliver technical feasibility development work for 5 community owned renewable energy sites, progressing them from stage 2 to 4; ready for community share offer and installation. 

The project is designed to maximise benefit flows to their Fuel Poverty fund, that powers the energy advice service, workshops, and in-home efficiency interventions they deliver to help energy consumers in vulnerable situations in South East London (over 4,000 households supported to date). 

Demonstrating that a rapid scale up of capacity and capability can unlock future self-financing of feasibility and a long term, rolling fuel poverty fund to benefit energy consumers in vulnerable situations in a self sustaining, strategic manner.

The project is a community-owned renewable energy installation in South Gloucestershire, close to Bristol. The installation will consist of a 1MW wind turbine, a 2MW ground-mounted solar array and a battery rated at 1MW/3MWh, connected behind a single grid connection via an innovative DC-coupled system to manage export volumes. 

This model has been developed to maximise clean energy generation, carbon emission reductions and community benefit, within the highly constrained local grid capacity. 

The project is expected to generate 4,447MWh per year, enough clean power to supply around 1,400 households. Over the projects lifetime this is expected to save approximately 5,900 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Power will be exported to the grid under purchase agreements with energy suppliers or other offtakers.

The project will be community-owned and protected by an asset lock. Revenues will be used to provide community benefit funding which will be distributed in the form of grants and practical support in the local area.

The project aims to provide targeted energy advice and support to vulnerable groups, specifically people over 65 and individuals living with long-term health conditions or disabilities in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

They will deliver personalised, one-to-one energy advice through home visits, telephone support, and workshops at community events, reaching individuals who may not otherwise seek support. 

Workshops will cover topics like understanding energy bills, promotion of Priority Service Registers, energy safety, introducing low-carbon technologies, and understanding government schemes. 

One-to-one advice will include managing energy debt, switching suppliers, and accessing financial support such as grants, energy efficiency measures, and benefit entitlements. 

The project will directly support 1,500 unique households per year, helping households reduce their energy costs, improve energy efficiency, and access critical grants and benefits. Through surveys and feedback, they will assess the impact on satisfaction, health, and wellbeing. 

By building long-term resilience, they aim to equip residents with the knowledge and resources needed to manage future energy challenges independently, including the integration of low-carbon technologies. By working with trusted local partners, they will refer clients to additional services and ensure they receive the full support they need. 

Ultimately, the project will empower vulnerable individuals, ensuring they can safely manage their energy needs and reduce fuel poverty.

This project will install 1 MWp of community owned solar PV assets across London by providing partial capital funding to investment ready sites across a consortium of 5 community energy groups, with delivery support from Repowering London (RL) and bridge financing from Repowering Finance (RF). 

The consortium, led by North Kensington Community Energy (NKCE), includes local co-operatives in Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Newham, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Barnet. 

The project will generate low-carbon electricity across these boroughs while creating opportunities for inclusion and empowerment for consumers who may not otherwise benefit from community energy. The solar PV installations enabled by this project will ultimately generate financial returns, training and development opportunities for those underrepresented in the sector, energy efficiency support initiatives, and community funds for local distribution, both during the grant cycle and across the long-term project cycles. 

The consortium will draw on delivery partner Repowering London’s extensive work to identify technically feasibly sites that are ready for install, with partial capital funding to ensure viability. Community stakeholders linked to these sites, working collaboratively with their local community energy co-op, will be empowered to take local action to reduce carbon emissions. The consortium’s model for community ownership focuses on engaging those traditionally excluded from the benefits of the renewables revolution, which is key to a just transition.

The project will provide vulnerable energy consumers with intensive energy support in an accessible and equitable way across the region.

They will collaborate with other community energy providers to simplify the advice offer for residents and form new referral pathways. 

Working alongside caseworkers, their experienced communications team will campaign for systemic improvements in the way billing issues are communicated to customers. Their work will culminate in an Energy Justice conference for Devon’s policy makers, driving long-term sustainable change that will focus on the wider determinants of fuel poverty and enable households to move towards living warmer, happier and healthier lives.

This project will provide vital, holistic support to vulnerable energy consumers across Cornwall who are experiencing complex challenges, with a mix of fuel poverty, debt, and mental health issues. Working through a referral network of trusted frontline professionals, the team of experienced advisers will deliver tailored energy and financial advice via telephone calls, home visits and face to face appointments.

This proposal builds on the work achieved and learning gained through Energy Advice for Positive Mental Health (2021-23) and Positive Action for Health & Wellbeing (September 2023-August 2025). These projects have shown the long-term benefits to clients of addressing the underlying barriers that prevent them resolving energy issues. 

Using a person-centred approach, advisers will identify the needs and concerns that contribute to stress and anxiety about household energy costs. With increasing demands on support services, direct access to help can be difficult for people who are not coping with costs of energy and household management and this project will enable direct referrals for individuals into specialist partners - Cornwall Mind for mental health support and Citizens Advice Cornwall for income maximisation, benefit checks, debt and legal advice. Where significant mental health issues are identified, both partners can make direct referrals into mental health support services. 

By offering wraparound support, the project will help clients achieve lasting improvements in energy management, financial resilience, and wellbeing.

This is a Stage 1 project to identify 4- 6 communities (of 200-1000 homes) across Staffordshire for collaboration to bring forward detailed deliverable plans to decarbonise the communities by a combination of increasing renewable supply and reducing energy demand, reduce energy bills for residents, and address fuel poverty. 

They aim to identify what works in different types of communities, what the conditions for success may involve, and what obstacles need to be overcome. Innovative approaches will be employed including investigation of potential for direct supply of energy from local sources, virtual power plants (VPPs), and flexible tariffs. 

A long list of 18 communities will be identified and initial consultation & analysis undertaken. Subsequently 4-6 of those communities will be selected for development of detailed decarbonisation plans. The selection criteria for the communities to be taken forward to this stage will depend on levels of engagement and interest; opportunities for renewables or other energy projects; levels of deprivation and need; and achieving a range of different challenges to maximise the learning to be gained from these pilot projects. 

Key issues and plans will be identified for each community which will form the basis for developing detailed decarbonisation projects beyond the funding period.