Our response to the UK Government’s plan to kickstart onshore wind revolution

The UK Government has published its onshore wind strategy, which will unlock up to 45,000 jobs and produce up to 10 gigawatts(GW) of clean power.

This strategy is set to benefit communities, too. New onshore wind guidance will provide communities with £5,000 per megawatt (MW) per year to help fund:

• Community initiatives such as libraries and football pitches.
• Local energy bill discount schemes.

A key part of achieving Clear Power by 2030 will be ensuring that local communities have a stake in the UK’s net zero energy system. It’s welcome to see today’s announcement setting out actions the UK Government will take to make sure communities see real benefits from hosting clean power projects in their local areas, such as onshore wind.  

As the strategy rightly sets out, it’s important to empower communities to participate in and develop their own local projects – and we’re pleased to see recognition that there isn’t a one size fits all approach to enabling this type of local clean power.  

We know from our first-hand experience delivering the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme and the Welsh Government Energy Service the importance of support schemes focused on developing impactful projects for communities.

These provide proven, replicable models for community energy capacity building and we need to see similar support mechanisms for England. This should be central to the Local Power Plan which we look forward to helping the UK Government to shape this year.