The North West Community Energy Pathways programme, commissioned by the North West Net Zero Hub and funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, set out to strengthen the region’s community energy ecosystem and deliver the national Community Energy Fund in the North West from 2023 to 2025. CAG Consultants and the Centre for Sustainable Energy were commissioned to design and deliver a flexible package of support that could respond to emerging needs in a rapidly evolving policy context.
CAG led the Community Energy North workstream, building on the Hub’s existing engagement to create a much clearer picture of who is active in the region and how they can be supported. This included developing and maintaining an active contact database of community energy representatives and using these to target communications and opportunities. CAG also convened regular coordination with other Northern Hubs helped the North West Hub to broker relationships between community groups and the three Distribution Network Operators serving the region.
Through the Local Government and Community Energy workstream, CAG focused on increasing understanding and uptake of community energy within local government. The team mapped sub‑regional local authority networks, engaged regional leaders’ bodies, and delivered region‑wide webinars for officers to set out the co‑benefits of supporting community energy and the role of the Community Energy Fund. CAG’s engagement work also helped identify Town and Parish Councils as a priority audience, and contributed to targeted support for these councils as local leaders and enablers of community projects.
The work has left the North West Net Zero Hub with better intelligence on community energy actors, stronger relationships between stakeholders, and co‑branded tools and resources that can be used to promote the Community Energy Fund and wider support offers across the region.
For more information please contact: Ailsa Gibson (ag@cagconsult.co.uk)