Local Energy Scheme
Grants supported incorporated organisations installing community renewable-energy projects in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
Această oportunitate este disponibilă momentan în limba engleză.
The Local Energy Scheme funds community and locally owned renewable-energy projects. Applications are closed. The terms below describe the historical Local Energy Scheme 3 capital round.
That round offered up to £150,000 per project, covering up to 50% of eligible capital costs for small organisations, 40% for medium organisations and 30% for large organisations. The capital guidance contains the business-size table used for this round. Applicants had to provide the remaining costs from their own reserves or other finance; no other public money could fund that balance.
Projects had to add renewable generation capacity, up to 10 MW, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Supported sources included wind, solar, aero-thermal, geothermal, hydrothermal, ocean energy, hydropower, landfill gas, sewage-treatment gas and biogas; projects could include combined battery storage. The scope included individual installations, smart local energy systems, energy infrastructure and small demonstrators. Surveys were eligible only when followed by capital expenditure and recorded as capital in the accounts. Consultants’ or planning fees, project management, staff costs and feasibility or development studies were excluded.
Eligibility
These conditions applied to the historical capital round:
- Your organisation and project had to be based in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City or South Gloucestershire. You had to be a legal entity carrying out economic activity, such as an energy-focused social enterprise or a trading business, and be VAT registered by grant payment. Eligible forms included community interest and limited companies, charitable incorporated organisations, community benefit and co-operative societies, development trusts, registered and pre-commencement societies, registered charities including eligible faith groups and sports clubs, and registered social-housing providers.
- Unincorporated community groups, sole traders and partnerships could not apply. The authority assessed financial health and ongoing sustainability, carried out a third-party credit check, required the latest filed accounts and could request the last three years’ accounts.
- Consortium bids needed a lead organisation. Grant could pass to eligible supporting organisations named in the application without tender only after an agreement reflecting the grant terms. Non-eligible partners could receive funds only through competitive tender or public-body fees for necessary licences and permissions. A lead could apply for distinctly different projects.
- Local authorities could not receive funding for their own costs. They could lead a social-housing project in their capacity as a Registered Social Landlord, or support another eligible lead without claiming their own costs.
- The project had to offer value for money, require the grant to be viable and become viable with it. Projects fully financeable by crowdfunding or private finance were excluded. Matching finance needed to be in place or have a firm commitment or route, with consent from matching funders. Planning consent, where required, had to be obtained before applying. Completion and all grant claims had to be achievable by 31 March 2026.
- Applicants needed a feasibility study, design and costs, a finance and cash-flow plan, generation and emissions-savings evidence, adequate governance and project-management resources, a clear plan and timetable, a formal distribution-network connection offer, and landowner or landlord agreement for works or access on property they did not own. Innovative or demonstration technologies needed an independent assessment, ideally by a university, covering proof of concept, performance, installation and wider adoption.
- The assessment considered local community benefits, green skills and jobs, biodiversity, innovation and support for other community-energy projects. Applicants had to demonstrate the additional benefits their project would bring.
Economic enterprises received a subsidy under the authority’s bespoke scheme SC10513 and had to keep activities within its eligible-cost and maximum-grant terms. Charities were likely to receive funding without subsidy, but treatment depended on whether the project was economic.
How to apply
- Statut
- indisponibil
- Se închide
- Condițiile sesiunii de finanțare
- Historical capital round. Projects and all grant claims had to be completed by 31 March 2026.
Applications are closed. For scheme enquiries, contact the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority at renewables@westofengland-ca.gov.uk. The historical capital round used that address to request a form and submit the completed application by noon on 15 January 2025.
Awardees could start only from notification of the approval decision; starting before signing the grant offer letter was at their own risk. The signed letter set the payment schedule and project completion date. Payments reimbursed expenditure already paid, supported by invoices and bank statements, at the relevant grant percentage. Applicants had to cash-flow the project and matching costs. Regulatory completion documents were required before final payment. Expenditure had to be claimed in the financial year it was spent, and all grant by 31 March 2026; there was no automatic entitlement to payment beyond the letter’s completion date.
Recipients had to attend monthly progress meetings and submit written reports including the financial position. They had to cooperate with an independent end-of-project audit if requested. Generation and greenhouse-gas savings had to be reported one year after completion; emissions estimates used DESNZ 2023 conversion factors, including relevant direct emissions and indirect transmission, distribution and fuel-refinement emissions. Funded assets could not be sold during their useful economic life without written permission.
The historical procurement rules used the whole contract value excluding VAT. Below £25,000, direct awards were allowed, with three quotes recommended. From £25,000, supplies up to £181,302 required three written quotes or prices against a clear specification and a justified decision. Services up to £181,302 and works up to £4,551,413 required an advert on the authority’s or another appropriate website for at least 10 days, explaining the opportunity, requirements, selection method and application deadline. Above those service, supply or works thresholds, advertising was also required, alongside conflict-of-interest management and declaration, impartial scoring and evidence that the winner was chosen on merit.
Recipients had to retain procurement records for the audit trail. Direct awards to linked suppliers, discriminatory conditions, artificial contract splitting and failures to meet the applicable thresholds were prohibited. If an extension took a contract from below £25,000 above that threshold, the higher-value procedure applied; contracts could not be extended above 50% of their original value. The authority could recover all grant reasonably and proportionately for breaches. These included prohibited awards or modifications, unadvertised extensions, missing audit records, failure to advertise on the recipient’s website for 10 days where required, and failures to provide required conflict declarations, impartial scoring, justification or evidence of selection on merit. Works also had to comply with planning requirements and building regulations.