This action plan explores how Nottinghamshire County Council can strengthen community energy to support Net Zero, energy affordability, and local economic development. Nottinghamshire has a relatively mature community energy sector, with organisations such as Nottingham Energy Partnership, Nottinghamshire Community Energy, Sustainable Hockerton, and several grassroots groups already delivering renewable energy, retrofit, and fuel poverty initiatives. However, activity is unevenly distributed and lacks a county-wide coordinating framework. Existing council strategies provide a supportive policy context through their focus on sustainability, partnership working, and local resilience. The report identifies significant potential to expand community-led renewable energy, particularly through stronger coordination and strategic leadership.

Challenges, opportunities, and actions

The study identifies several barriers to growth, including limited organisational capacity, skills gaps, volunteer shortages, fragmented delivery arrangements, and uncertainty around funding. Community groups often struggle with project development, securing finance, navigating planning requirements, and understanding grid constraints. Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) also creates uncertainty around asset ownership and long-term project planning.

Opportunities include establishing a Nottinghamshire-wide Community Energy Network to improve coordination, knowledge sharing, and partnership working. The report highlights significant potential for rooftop solar on community and public-sector assets, alongside emerging opportunities in battery storage, local energy supply models, geothermal energy, and mine-water heat. Community energy can also contribute to fuel poverty reduction by retaining more value within local communities. Analysis suggests around 9.3 MW of rooftop solar potential and a longer-term opportunity of approximately 49 MW when solar farms and wind generation are included.

Recommended actions include establishing a county-wide network, identifying quick-win solar projects, improving coordination with network operators, developing local energy pilots, supporting skills development, building stronger partnerships with councils and universities, embedding community energy across policies and planning, and creating long-term support structures that enable community energy organisations to become more financially sustainable.