Community Energy Roadmap

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Discovery Phase Development Phase Project Planning Phase Funding Phase Construction Phase Post-Build Phase
Funding Phase
Funding Phase
A purple and yellow graphic illustrating funding

Grant funding

  • There are several places you can seek grant funding for your project, although not many options for the capital costs.
  • Community Energy England maintains an up-to-date page of funding opportunities for community energy groups, including the Government’s Community Energy Fund and National Lottery funding.
  • For further down the line: If you have a PPA with Younity, we offer the chance to apply for our Powering Communities Fund for social impact projects!
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Funding Phase
The Bottle Yard 2 studios, transformed and modernised following redevelopment funded by the Kickstart Loan.

Loan options

Please understand this does not constitute as financial advice; please seek professional advice when considering finance.

  • You might want to consider taking out a loan to finance the projects, perhaps so you can build the project whilst running a share offer, or to cover costly grid connection expenses.
  • Younity offers a Kick Start Loan on a short-term basis of up to £1.5m. Read more and apply here.
  • Triodos Bank offers longer-term loans up to £20m for larger projects. Read more here.
  • Other banks may offer loans for your projects.
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Funding Phase

Running a community share offer

  • Many groups use a community share offer to raise the capital costs of the project. This involves seeking investment from individuals and aiming to create a return on their investment.
  • Once you have assessed the project’s technical viability, you can build financial projections, and identify risks. We have a course on financial modelling on our free platform, Connect, found here.
  • Start to gather interest from potential investors and stakeholders – this could be through community events, leafleting, social media, etc. You could have a pledge form on your website to gather information and a rough idea of how much people are willing to invest.
  • Determine how much you need to raise and what the share offer terms will be (e.g. expected return, withdrawal policy). You might want to seek funding to work with a consultancy to support this work – the financial modelling is crucial to working out the financial viability of the project and will form the basis of legal agreements. It is worth beginning to negotiate lease and Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the site(s) to gain even more buy-in.
  • Write the Share Offer Document, with clearly outlined project details, risks, financial forecasts, and investor rights. It’s good practice to get your document assessed and awarded the Standard Shares Mark (this provides a framework for societies to develop high-quality share offer documents with support from practitioners accredited by the Community Shares Unit at Co-operatives UK). More information on the process here.
  • Seek legal and financial advice to ensure compliance with regulations. Legal support can be hard to find if not a skill on your board; you could apply for pro bono legal support from Law Works, a charity offering free legal support.
  • Plan how to communicate the offer via events, social media, press releases, and community networks. The Reach Fund currently offers grant funding for marketing your share offer.
  • Choose an easy-to-use platform for investors to buy shares and track their investments, or choose to DIY it and take on investors manually. Platforms include Ethex, Crowdfunder, Abundance and Triodos. Include platform fees in your financial model and weigh the pros and cons of using a platform versus DIY.
  • Now for the most exciting part – announce the campaign and open applications for investment! There is usually a flurry of investment at the beginning and the end, with a dip in the middle. Ensure you have a good marketing strategy to keep momentum going so you reach your target.
  • You could host community information events to answer questions and build trust through webinars, local meetings, or site visits. This would be especially good to host at the sites themselves to keep them involved.
  • Share progress, respond to inquiries, and keep momentum going. Monitor investment levels and adjust promotional efforts if needed to reach the funding target.
  • Once the target is met or the deadline arrives, finalise investor records and issue share certificates. These can be digital or physical, depending on finances and group capacity.
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