Are you an owner of buildings and land? Then you can help drive the transformation of our energy system, whilst reaping the benefits.

That roof on your factory, office or car park could host a community energy project – providing you with cheaper, greener energy whilst also directly benefiting your local community. Alongside decarbonisation and decentralisation, the democratisation of energy is absolutely integral to the transformation of our energy system – which is why community energy is vital and will become increasingly visible in the coming years.

What is our vision?

Imagine thousands of buildings across the UK, all hosting locally owned renewables. Schools, hospitals, retail parks, care homes and churches, working with local social enterprises and cooperatives to ‘anchor’ renewables in their surrounding communities, powering them with local, clean energy. 

It seems a no-brainer, right? That’s partly because we know there are plenty of viable sites for decentralised renewables and storage that are not being used. For example, within the NHS alone, 166 Trusts reported plots of surplus land totalling nearly 1,800 hectares in 2018 – that’s over 1.5 times the size of London’s Richmond Park. In addition, an increasing number of corporates and cities have ambitious decarbonisation targets, as well as objectives to deliver more social value to local communities. The community energy movement is maturing fast with the experience of hundreds of proven projects across the UK. And whilst these groups remain subject to a challenging policy environment, innovative new business models and projects are now emerging.

Our solution: welcome to PowerPaired

Funded by Friends Provident Foundation and created by Forum for the Future, PowerPaired is a new digital platform being piloted across the UK. With the support of organisations like the Greater London Authority, Oldham Council and Suffolk County Council it has been specifically designed to match local energy groups with asset owners willing to have a conversation about hosting community renewables. Our aim is to reduce the time and cost it takes to identify and secure sites for community energy; whilst demonstrating the financial and social value to a growing number of asset owners.

What can you do?

If you have buildings or surplus land that may be suitable for community renewables we would love to hear from you. No financial or legal commitment is required to participate, just an interest in learning more about community energy and how you might benefit.

Check out the beta version of the:

PowerPaired platform

Martin Hunt and Rebecca Lawson are part of the PowerPaired team, if you want to learn more they'd love to hear from you so get in touch!

If you're interested in this, we have also recently just launched a report on the Future of Community Business