The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund is open for applications.
The Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) will support community organisations to develop their own renewable energy projects, including wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, through the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund.
Is this funding right for you?
It’s open to non-profit distributing Scottish charities or companies. Check your eligibility
You’ll need to have a good idea of the community energy project you want to deliver and it should be of a significant scale.
This funding is for communities that have a clear project plan, including details on what renewable technologies they plan to install, and where they’ll install them.
What other support is available through CARES?
If you’re not sure what to do or if you have questions about your eligibility our Community Energy Launchpad is where you should start.
If you want to improve a community or faith building that you rent or own our Community Building Fund might be a better option for you.
If you’ve not yet developed a clear project idea, you can review case studies of community energy generation projects together with examples of past projects and potential project models.
It can help community organisations with grant funding, advice and loan funding to progress your renewable energy project. There’s support for early feasibility work, project development and construction. Your project idea must meet the fund objectives:
Contribute to Scotland’s target of 2GW of community or locally owned renewable energy by 2030.
Support communities to develop and be engaged in energy projects and the energy transition.
Deliver concrete economic benefits to communities, while also supporting Scotland’s net zero ambitions.
Projects supported will need to:
Install over 100kW of renewable energy, either at a site or over multiple sites, for example multiple building roofs.
Install eligible technologies including onshore wind, solar PV, hydro. Battery storage, flexibility and local supply arrangements can be included if it complements renewable generation and improves the business model.
Generate and provide electricity through a connection to:
Sell to the national grid; or
Sell to a local energy user with enough demand; or
Power your own building.
Please note the additional points if your project idea is to:
Power your own building – you can only apply if it’s heated by electricity, biomass or district heating and you’ll need a big roof or space around your building to install a 100kW of renewable energy.
Improve an independent electricity grid – as a community group that owns and operates its own independent electricity grid because it can’t connect to the national grid you can apply.
Repowering an existing renewable energy project – you can apply for feasibility, development and construction support.
Feasibility and development support will be provided via grant funding or direct support via CARES framework contractors. Grants and loans will be available for installation and construction. Funding can be used to help projects meet a key and achievable project milestones by 15 March 2027.
Funding amounts and example activities are set out in the table below.
Project phase
Funding
Example activities / milestones
1. Feasibility
Initial assessment of viability.
Grant funding up to 100% of eligible costs.
Maximum award £20k.
A site-specific feasibility study
and preliminary development activities for well-considered project ideas at an early stage.
2. Development
Work required to move from feasibility towards investment readiness.
Grant funding up to 100% of eligible costs up to £200k within one financial year.
A planning application submission; full technical design; grid connection agreements and payments; land agreements; procurement of contractors, services and equipment; securing finances, etc.
3. Construction
Costs relating to installation and build.
Grant funding – up to 80% of eligible costs up to maximum grant of £150k.
Loan funding – Up to five‑year loans available; interest starts after 18 months. Interest will begin to accrue after an initial interest‑free period of 18 months. The maximum loan amount will depend on the budget available at the time of application. Terms available on request.
Installation costs of renewable technologies; purchase of equipment; professional advisors – project manager, clients engineer.
Funding notes:
You do not have to apply for a loan to get the grant. Any loan approval will be dependent on affordability tests and due diligence. It is expected that projects will need to refinance the CARES loan during early operation.
Whilst you can apply for funding in more than one project phase at a time, your deliverability score will be reduced during assessment if risks associated with your project not progressing to the next stage are deemed high and/or not mitigated.
Approved projects must be completed and all funding claimed by the 15 March 2027. As planned project timelines can change, we encourage you to start your project and claim the funding as early as possible to allow for any unexpected delays.
Funding will be awarded through a panel assessment process. Due to the Scottish Election in May we are unable to confirm the fund closing date or confirm overall scheme funding until a new Government is in place and approves the awarding of new funds. However, we will look to give projects as much time to deliver as possible and the closing date will be set with that in mind. We would recommend that applicants work on their applications now and look out for further announcements post-election.
Most renewable energy projects will complete over longer periods, therefore applicants can reapply to CARES for further funding to continue their projects in future, but there is no guarantee that funds will be available or that further applications will be successful.
Please note your funding isn’t allocated until you have received, signed and returned a grant offer letter.
Funding isn’t guaranteed and depends on available budget. Your application may be put in a queue or rejected if insufficient budget is available.
Applications will be assessed by a panel consisting of at least two officials from the Scottish Government, at least two Local Energy Scotland staff, and at least two external panel members. Funding will be awarded competitively, based on an assessment of the information in your application form. Please ensure that your application, particularly your responses to the four questions that directly reference the Assessment Criteria, provides sufficient relevant detail to assess and score your project against the application criteria below. Your application form must clearly provide details that allow to us to:
Assess that your organisation is eligible – pass/fail. Please also read our eligibility guidance to check if your organisation is eligible for CARES funding.
Assess that your project is eligible – pass/fail.
Score your application against each of the assessment criteria set out below.
The first part of project eligibility is a pass/fail assessment.
The funding can support community owned renewable electricity generation projects that:
Can generate and sell electricity, either through a connection to the national grid or through a connection to their own site or a local energy user/off-taker with appropriate demand.
Deliver at least 100 kW of renewable energy.
If the project is in your own building you must have electric, biomass or district heating.
Have a clear and deliverable project plan.
Will complete one or more project milestones and claim funding by 15 March 2027.
Please note the panel will only review information in your portal application when scoring your project. They will focus on your responses to the four assessment criteria questions which relating to the numbered criteria in the table below.
Assessment criteria
Short-term considerations
Long-term considerations
1. Viability
Financial and technical viability assessment appropriate to the project stage, and an overall consideration of concept and approach.
Will the milestone being delivered help progress the viability of the project?
Are milestone(s) technically possible and deliverable in the time stated?
What is the preferred financial route to completing the project?
Is the overall project idea viable?
Is there a plan for the ongoing progression of the project?
Is there a plan to fund the project(s) and is it realistic and financially sustainable?
Is the technical solution proven?
2. Impact
The expected installed capacity.
The scale of the revenue for the community from the project.
The plan to spend income generated and the impact of this on the community.
Alignment with Scotland’s Just Transition outcomes.
Will completion of the milestone help the project build out and realise its benefits?
Are the proposed milestones the right ones for this stage of the project?
Are the goals realistic and is the plan likely to achieve the proposed impact?
Will the project achieve high levels of installed capacity/energy generation relative to the investment?
Is the community benefit from the project likely to be greater than the grant award?
What’s the approach to maximising the benefit to the community beyond bill savings.
Is the idea / approach replicable.
3. Deliverability
Proposed milestones can be met and CARES funding drawn down on time.
Project team, responsibilities, processes and capacity.
Technically sound solution that is deliverable and appropriate.
Is a proven technology being used?
Has good progress to date been demonstrated?
Are the CARES-funded milestone(s) deliverable and provide some timing contingency, before the 15 March 2027?
What are the key actions to ensure the deadline is met?
Does the community and their delivery team demonstrate the right skills and resilience to achieve the milestone(s)?
Are risks relating to delivering the milestone(s) understood?
Has the applicant demonstrated a reasonable plan to construct and energise the project?
Does the applicant demonstrate an understanding of challenges to deliver the project?
Has the community demonstrated long term planning like succession planning for the board, staff, etc?
Is the approach to operation and maintenance appropriate for the project?
4. Value for money
Value for money and approach to procuring/ appointing contractors.
Has a sound approach been taken to secure value for money?
Is the proposed approach appropriate for the project stage and spend?
Has the community been clear on the approach for achieving value for money for future project stages?
If projects propose to work with preferred or existing contractors for lower value works, for example feasibility, project management and development works, there must be clear rationale as to why this is appropriate at this stage, and you must demonstrate how you will achieve value for money.
For larger scale and construction works, it’s expected that an appropriate procurement exercise will be undertaken to test the market and allow a fair process.
If you haven’t had CARES funding before, please go to the CARES project portal and submit an expression of interest form with information about your organisation and project so that we can check eligibility before you submit a full application. If you already have a CARES portal account, you must apply for funding for your new project by submitting an expression of interest form in relation to that new project via your existing portal account.
We understand that community energy projects are challenging, and a degree of flexibility is required to help projects progress. We want to make sure that CARES funding can support community organisations to fill gaps, support a range of projects and address project challenges outside of the timings of the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund.
The CARES Resilience Fundwill be open to applications once the Scottish Government is able to make funding decisions following the elections in May. You can apply if your project meets the guidance for the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund and you can evidence an urgent deadline for funding to keep your project on track, and where you have an existing CARES award and Local Energy Scotland has confirmed it should be managed through the Resilience Fund rather than a change process.
