The second round of the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund is now open.
If you are looking for inspiration and project ideas for the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund then the following examples of community energy projects supported through CARES are a great place to start:
- CARES community generation video. This short film introduces some community energy generation case studies.
- Radio City’s 2.5MW grid-connected wind turbine in Kilbirnie.
- Glasgow Community Energy and Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative worked in partnership with local authorities to install solar panels on the roofs of local schools.
- Dundee Renewable Energy Society worked with the James Hutton Institute to sell electricity to them from the community’s solar meadow.
- Greencraig Community Wind Turbine – Bespoke CIC and Locogen worked together to develop a community owned 900kW wind turbine project.
- Buchanan Community Hydro is a 100% community-owned 100kW run-of-river community hydro scheme.
A list of the community projects supported during the 2024-25 pilot is available in our support for community energy generation news article.
Whilst not prescriptive, the table below may help with developing Community Energy Generation Growth Fund project ideas.
| Project model | Description |
| Renewables projects on communities’ own buildings and land | For example, solar photovoltaic (PV) on the roofs or arrays on land, or solar canopies in car parks. Targeted at charity organisations with large sites/roofs for example community sports facilities. |
| Grid-connected community generation | Community-owned renewable projects – wind/solar/hydro connected to grid. |
| Community generation with a private wire | Community renewable projects, but rather than being grid connected they sell directly to a third-party user like local authorities, hospitals, airports, etc. |
| Roof top solar partnerships | The community group develops, funds, owns and operates solar PV on public buildings or private buildings like schools, hospitals, businesses etc. |
| Adding new renewables to an existing energy generation site | Community-owned solar PV added to an existing wind site and sharing the grid connection (G100 projects). We expect new generation will be added to a community site but sharing other owners’ sites can be considered. |
| Repowering sites | Support for communities looking to repower their existing renewable energy project. Communities looking to repower third-party sites ie farms or other sites can be considered. |
| Renewable generation to support heat projects | Support for non-profit district heating networks to add solar PV to power their heat pumps or to get ready for switching to electric heating on their networks. |
| Flexibility and innovation projects | Support for flexibility and innovation projects. CARES will only fund established technologies that have a track record of real-world deployment and operation, and where the projects have a reasonable chance of success. |