Supplying clean electricity to community members, or

Supporting a community benefit fund to fund local community projects, or

Supplying clean energy to a community facility.

Light-touch advice | Jul 2023 – Sep 2025

Specialist consultancy | Jul 2023 – Sept 23

Grant funding | Feb 2024 – Sep 2025

Monday 26^th June 2023 – Friday 29^th September 2025

For any group looking to develop a community renewable energy project

CAfS can provide a free 30-minute advice call from a renewable energy specialist by telephone, Zoom or email. We will endeavour to answer your questions, highlight things to consider, outline the options available to you and signpost you to support (including the support outlined below), potential delivery routes and examples from elsewhere.

Email us or telephone our office at 01768 210276.

Monday 26^th June 2023 – Friday 29^th September 2023 (or earlier depending on numbers of applications received. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all the support has been allocated, and therefore groups are encouraged to submit their application as soon as possible).

For any group looking to develop a community renewable energy project. Funding available to support four to six of the groups that apply.

The specialist consultancy support could cover:

• Initial technology assessment – this could either assess different technological options or test the technical feasibility of a particular proposal. It would include whether the technology was suitable for the site and if so, could provide indicative calculations of the potential energy generation, the installation cost and potential savings or income., It would also highlight any other significant factors such as the ability to connect to the electricity grid and the possible need for planning permission.
• Engagement – this could cover discussing the potential project with the community so they have the opportunity to have their voice heard and be involved in the project, and/or discussions with the relevant land or site owner(s).
• Delivery and financing models – this support would review different options for delivering and financing the project and make recommendations for those which are likely to be suitable.
• Establishing a community energy group – depending upon the chosen delivery model, your group may need to formally establish itself with an appropriate legal structure. This support would outline options and help you to set up the appropriate structure.
• Other – we are open to other requests for specialist support to help your group to progress your project proposal.

The value of the individual consultancy packages would be between £1,000 and £2,500, depending upon what support is required. We have a pool of specialist consultants who we can draw upon to provide the support, and will commission them on your behalf. If your application is successful, we will work with you to refine a brief for the consultant.

Applications should be submitted using this application form and emailed to us. Any queries can be directed to the same email address.

Applications will be reviewed every three weeks and to be considered at each review meeting, will need to be received by close of play on:

• Monday 10^th July 2023
• Monday 31^st July 2023
• Monday 21^st August 2023
• Monday 11^th September 2023
• Monday 2^nd October 2023

Successful applicants will be notified immediately following each review meeting, which will be held on the Wednesday of those weeks.

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

• Does this project fit within our definition of a community renewable energy project?
• Is the project likely to result in significant carbon emissions? As a guide, we would consider ‘significant’ to mean renewable energy generation of at least 20kWp or the equivalent of a 50-panel solar PV array or a scheme that supported at least 10 homes.
• Is the project likely to have a significant influence in the wider community? As a guide, we would consider ‘significant’ to mean that at least 50 members of the community would benefit from the project and/or be inspired to take their own action to combat climate change.
• Is the project replicable?  We will prioritise community renewable energy projects which are potentially replicable across Cumbria either in terms of the proposed technology and/or the proposed financing/ownership model.
• Does the project have a good chance of being deliverable? As a guide we would consider ‘deliverable’ to mean having a committed project lead, reasonable initial support from the local community and/or land or site owner, and reasonably sound basis for the technical solution.
• Does this project contribute to a diverse portfolio of project in terms of technology, community type and location and delivery model? This may be difficult to assess for the first few applications, but will be considered as further applications are received.
• Can CAfS procure the specialist consultancy support required? If the support is beyond that which can be provided by our known specialists, we will endeavour to find appropriate support – but this may not be possible.

Delivery timescales: we will procure the specialist consultancy support on a rolling basis as and when successful applications are approved. The delivery period will run from August 2023 until February 2024.

February 2024  – March 2024

For groups who have benefited from our specialist consultancy support or others who are at a similar stage of development. We will provide grant funding of up to £10,000 each to support two community groups to further develop their projects as exemplars

We have a particular interest in supporting deliverable and replicable projects which were identified in our research as follows:

• At least one of the two exemplar projects should be based around electricity generation. The second could be either (i) a second electricity generation project but with either a different technology or a different delivery model (or both) or (ii) it could be heat related project.
• At least one of the two exemplar projects should employ solar PV.
• At least one of the two exemplar projects should focus on a replicable model for smaller community groups to take forward.

Application details to follow

Evaluation criteria to follow

Delivery period: May 2024 – September 2025