Eight solar projects with a collective capacity of 35MWp have passed into community ownership in what has been described as the “biggest transfer of community energy assets ever in the UK”.
The ownership of these assets will be shared between five community businesses that have formed a partnership called Community Energy Together (CET); these businesses are: Wight Community Energy (WCE); Gower Power, which launched a community share offer for the 4.99MW Brynwhilach solar farm located in Swansea in October 2023; Kent Community Energy; Shropshire and Telford Community Energy; and Yealm Community Energy.
According to CET the transfer has increased the community solar capacity of England and Wales by one-fifth.
Community Energy just seems to be a way of hiding investment schemes and googled a few of those companies. That’s what they do.
It’s good that more money is flowing into solar, but community energy made me think it was something more interesting than it is.
Is community energy in the UK that significantly different that the US? Community solar is growing here, and it tends to be for individuals who get direct credits on their energy bills. This can be useful for people who want to benefit from solar but don’t own property or their property isn’t solar compatible.
I think you’re right. These type of infrastructure investments tend to be Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). As they are hard to exit from and risky, only “sophisticated” investors can invest, i.e. no retail investors can.