The Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy outlined its ambition to see communities benefit from the development of onshore renewables in their local area, with the aim to reinforce positive associations with renewable energy in local communities whilst also providing long-term socioeconomic benefits to them.
QMPF was appointed by Local Energy Scotland, which delivers the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), to complete a market engagement exercise with renewable energy developers, community groups, and community group funders with relevant experience in shared ownership projects. The objective of the exercise was to better understand each stakeholder’s requirements to help structure shared ownership opportunities in a way which enables communities to seek external finance to fund their investment requirement.
This report summarises findings from market engagement discussions with developers and community group funders to understand:
- Developers’/funders’ experience with shared ownership projects.
- Typical offers made to community groups for shared ownership investment.
- Different models used by developers on shared ownership projects and their impact on community groups.
- Engagement process of developers with communities and subsequently communities with funders.
- Funding options available to community groups and how this impacts the community group’s ability to invest.
- Security available to community groups in a shared ownership project.
- Challenges associated with the shared ownership projects and suggestions to improve the process to increase stakeholder engagement.