Here you will find the latest opportunities for communities to bid for grants to support environmental projects.
Community Energy Fund
The Community Energy Fund (CEF) is a £10m grant scheme for urban and rural communities to develop energy services to benefit their local area.
The funding will help to kickstart clean energy projects including small-scale wind farms and rooftop solar partnerships, as well as battery storage, rural heat networks, electric vehicle charging points. It can also be used to fund fuel poverty alleviation schemes such as energy efficiency, retrofit, and advice projects.
The CEF aims to empower local people to take control of their energy future by:
- Increasing the number of community-owned low-carbon energy assets
- Supporting communities to reduce energy cost and demand
- Generating local income through community-owned energy assets
- Reinvesting income locally and kickstarting private investment
- Supporting local jobs, growth and volunteering opportunities
- Enabling places to benefit from clean, renewable, local energy
The fund will achieve its aims by supporting the earlier development stages of community-scale projects.
About the funding
Funding will be offered for:
- Stage 1 Feasibility Grant of up to £40,000 to produce a feasibility study to establish the technical and financial viability of a project and/or
- Stage 2 Development Grant of up to £100,000 for a more detailed investigation of the technology, for planning applications and to develop a business case.
Please note: the fund is for the development of projects from concept to investment-ready scheme. It does not provide capital funding for the installation of projects themselves.
The dates for the next rounds of applications are:
- 13 September 2024
- 8 November 2024
If you have any questions about the application process, email us at communityenergyfund@nottinghamcity.gov.uk [mailto:communityenergyfund@nottinghamcity.gov.uk].
Read more about it on the Midlands Net Zero Hub [https://www.midlandsnetzerohub.co.uk/community-energy/]
The National Lottery Community Fund [https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/] distributes over £600m a year to communities across the UK, raised by players of The National Lottery [https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/]