Renewable Energy

An increasing number of rural communities are discovering that investing in local renewable energy generation can bring big benefits to their community. Benefits range from providing a source of ongoing income, reducing energy bills, providing a focus for community regeneration and helping to reduce carbon emissions.

The UK target to increase renewable energy generation to 15% by 2020 is equivalent to a seven-fold increase on 2008 levels. This presents opportunities and challenges for rural communities. Opportunities exist for rural communities to work together to invest in renewable energy, become less dependent on expensive fossil fuels and earn money from proposed feed-in tariffs. Challenges exist with agreeing appropriate sites, securing planning agreement and finding affordable technologies.

Get Generating

Rural communities are becoming increasingly aware of the opportunities that renewable energy can offer particularly for the many rural areas that do not have a mains gas connection. However the huge range of organisations, resources and information available nationally and locally on renewable energy can be confusing. A new guide, titled "Get Generating" produced by ACRE in partnership with the CPRE, CRC and NALC is now available to assist groups in considering their option when thinking about developing a renewable energy scheme. Download a copy of the guide Get Generating A Renewable Energy Guide for Rural Communities

Community Energy Online is a new resource developed by DECC to support local authorities and community groups in their role as initiators, supporters and developers of local low carbon and renewable energy projects. http://ceo.decc.gov.uk/

Plan LoCaL: building sustainability into Community Led Planning

ACRE has been involved in a 3 year programme run by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) that is seeking to identify ways that communities can be supported to identify, plan for, and implement low-carbon solutions for their local area. CSE have been very interested in how the CLP process can help communities to achieve this. Building on the experience of several RCAN members, CSE are producing resources that will compliment ACRE’s Community Led Planning toolkit.