Energy For Surrey
Surrey Community Energy (SCE) is a Community Benefit Society run by volunteers to develop, own and manage clean energy installations. Our goal is to increase energy independence for the county through the installation of renewable energy projects, providing lower cost power, creating jobs in innovative new areas, and contributing toward Surrey's climate change targets.
.png)
How Does Community Energy Work?
.png)
Community energy schemes are a great way for local residents, communities, businesses and / or local authorities to collaborate for the benefit of the area. Working together, we identify sites that are suitable for clean energy generation - primarily solar to begin with.
Once a site has been identified, and deemed feasible, we will try to agree a provisional lease for the site with the owner or landlord. Then we will raise a 'community share offer', which you and other residents can invest in, and you will receive an annual return.
Once we raise enough capital to purchase the equipment the installation begins, typically on an agreed lease of 15 - 20 years, though the period depends on the size of the installation and the demand. We will manage, operate and insure the installation over this period.
The host site and any other agreed energy users will purchase the bulk of the electricity produced on site from us at an agreed cost, typically lower than the grid cost, and any excess energy is exported.
As an investor, you receive an annual return on your investment - meaning everybody wins!
Benefits of Community Energy?
Organisations focused on energy efficiency support - such as the Home Energy Advice Team in Surrey - provide a fantastic service to residents, helping residents to cut energy bills, keep their homes cosy and free of damp and mould (in turn reducing pressure on local health services), and reduce carbon emissions from our homes.
SCE on the other hand, is focused on energy generation, which adds another array of benefits to Surrey's communities and businesses. Community Energy England have produced a short paper on the importance and benefits of community energy, which include:
-
Support energy security and resilience in the shift to electrification
-
Help charities, community groups and frontline services lower overheads
-
Provide predictable costs for businesses at lower-than-grid rate
-
Genuinely sustainable portfolio option with stable returns for investors
-
Reduce carbon emissions from commercial buildings and industry, which account for about 26% of Surrey emissions
-
Increase resource efficiency with unused rooftops creating electricity for local use and reducing transmission loss
-
Boost the local economy with job creation, upskilling, and installation opportunities
Every year, Community Energy England publishes its 'State of The Sector' report, and every year the impressive statistics just keep growing.
You can see the support for community energy schemes by looking at the amount of power created, investment secured or put back into local economies, and the number of new jobs created by community energy. In 2023 alone State of The Sector reported...
.png)
.png)
