Community owned

We’re here to help with every step of your project. Our support includes:

• free, expert and impartial advice from our local development officers
• funding through the Community Energy Growth Fund
• free online toolkits and project guides to help you identify what might work for you
• mobilisation support for capital projects – design review, costs and procurement support
• ongoing support with project development and delivery
• mentoring and community online discussion in our Facebook group.

The CARES Community Energy Launchpad is here to support communities interested in taking the first step on their community energy journey. This is delivered in partnership with Community Energy Scotland and Development Trusts Association Scotland.

If you’ve got a project or idea that you’d like to explore with us, please complete the project enquiry form on our ‘contact us’ webpage.

Scottish Water’s Renewable Energy Guide for Developers and Communities aims to help developers and communities understand how to engage with Scottish Water when developing renewable energy and low carbon heat projects. The guide outlines key steps and timescales to inform the selection of potential sites.

The initial approach form should be used to submit an initial enquiry to the Scottish Water Energy Team about a potential renewable project where Scottish Water would be asked to purchase power or host the development.

Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) are an agreement between an energy generator (the community) and an energy purchaser (energy supplier). The energy supplier will agree to pay the community a set fee per kWh for a set period of time; this may be over the short or long term, but most are around 1-3 years.

PPAs are likely to be of interest to communities with larger renewable projects (over 80kW for wind and hydro projects or over 250kW for solar), including those in receipt of the Feed-in Tariff. There are a small number of energy utilities that will provide PPAs to smaller projects.

Watch our webinar (recorded in April 2022) to find out more about Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for community organisations.

The webinar aims to help communities by setting out examples of current market trends, factors that influence the prices, and relevant case studies. We’re also joined by Renewable Exchange and Younity who share their experience and insights of the PPA market and where this might be appropriate for community organisations.