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An initiative to encourage community ownership in local renewable energy projects has been launched by the renewable industry today.
The report from the voluntary Shared Ownership Taskforce, led by Renewable UK, stated that developers of “significant new schemes” should consult with local community and offer a stake in the scheme of between 5 and 25 per cent.
This responded to the government’s community energy strategy, which was published in January, which said that by 2015 it should be routine for developers to offer communities “some level of ownership” of renewables projects in their area.
The Shared Ownership Taskforce stated that developers will work with communities to explore which ownership model best suits them at an early stage in the development of the renewables energy scheme.
The financial commitment from the community involved will them come at a later date “so that local investors aren’t exposed to the risks of a project not going ahead”.
Renewable UK’s chief executive and chair of the Shared Ownership Taskforce, Maria McCaffery, said: “We’re democratising the benefits of the renewable energy revolution even further, giving people a stake in generating clean electricity at grass roots level.”
Energy secretary Ed Davey added: “Community energy is revolutionising renewable energy development in the UK, and shared ownership will offer people the opportunity to buy in to the green energy that their own communities are producing.”
The Solar Trade Association (STA) agreed that the Shared Ownership Taskforce report would help “accelerate innovation with local ownership and investment across the sector”.
The trade body even said it was amending its 10 commitments to solar – which it launched last year – to support the drive for increased community ownership.
STA head of external affairs, Leonie Greene, said: “Our aim is to find real win-wins for the industry and communities that will ultimately enable the UK to accelerate the deployment of clean power.”
However, the STA stated that there needed to be flexibility in the ownership models and that it did not support shared ownership as a planning consideration.
Greene added: “We urge MPs who support renewables to question the appropriateness and potential consequences of the state stipulating who owns renewable energy schemes – and only renewable energy schemes.”
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