Cornwall Council is aiming to support communities in Cornwall to develop plans to take control of their local energy systems as part of its agreement with the Government for the UK’s first rural Devolution Deal.

The Deal commits the council and the Government to work together to trial new models for community energy, focusing on how local and neighbourhood plans can support local ownership of renewable energy and community-owned heat.

These activities got under way at last week’s Cornwall Energy Summit in Truro with the launch of the Council’s new Neighbourhood Planning guidance on community energy.

The guidance, entitled ‘Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: a community-led approach’ will ensure that communities can take control of the future of their local energy systems by setting out the types of projects that will be supported and ensuring that local residents and businesses are the beneficiaries. 

Answering the question ‘what more can be done to support community energy in Cornwall’, the Summit was attended by representatives of a range of organisations interested in community energy, including Community Energy England, RegenSW, Good Energy, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and representatives of Cornwall’s community energy groups.