Funding will become available later this year through the Local Power Plan which has been announced by government. The Local Power Plan will support local and community-owned clean energy across the UK. It is being delivered by Great British Energy (GBE) and will bring together grants, loans, advice and expert help to invest in the development of community energy. The total funding commitment for the plan is £1bn.
Community energy groups and other organisations that are developing a local energy project are invited to complete an Expression of Interest on the GBE website to help inform the development of the Local Power Plan.
Local Power Plan support is intended to help overcome the obstacles that can make it difficult to get a community energy project up and running. It will therefore provide:
Direct funding – improving access to finance and helping community energy groups to become financially stable and able to benefit from private-finance opportunities
Expert help – supporting groups to develop their skills and expertise so that they can take forward a community energy project
Long-term planning – support with business models and scaling-up, including a Local Energy Platform to host standardised, repeatable models for use by community groups
Policy and regulatory changes – to help reduce the barriers facing groups that are developing community energy projects, including making it easier to offer shared ownership, to sell power and to connect to the grid, as well as accelerating the planning process.
In terms of funding, the GBE Capital Toolkit will be launched in Summer 2026. It will introduce two grant funds to support early-stage project development:
GBE Community Fund – for community energy groups
Partnership Fund – for joint projects between local authorities and community energy groups
There will also be construction and operation loans, and a Local Investment Fund that will provide direct investment into local projects that are identified as viable investment opportunities.
Focus of fund/fund aims:
Support for the development of community energy projects
Application deadline:
N/A