Supported by Carnegie UK Trust, ruralnet|uk have been undertaking mapping and research work into community energy projects. This work has 'mapped' community energy initiatives all over the UK - take a look - and provides a 'snapshot' of current activity and included case studies from Ashton Hayes, Knoydart Renewables, Transition Forest Row and FREE.
Low Carbon Communities: A study of community energy projects in the UK
The main research findings are:
- The availability of grant support for small-scale renewable projects is good but this does not necessarily reflect how successful the project will be long-term
- There is a lack of on-going support for community energy projects; particularly project-to-project networking support
- Local support from Parish Council varies greatly between projects
- A gap in funding exists for the development of support infrastructures and general awareness-raising activities at a local level
The full report can be viewed here