Praise from Ed Miliband as community energy schemes in Walsall and Shrewsbury share £750,000 funding boost

Writing for the Star, Energy Security Secretary Ed Miliband said the schemes by Bayston Parish Council and at a leisure centre in Bloxwich demonstrated the role that communities would play in Britain's future energy policy. 

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Bloxwich Active Living Centre will receive £672,935 towards a  £749,935 scheme to install rooftop solar panels and electric-car charging points at the leisure centre in High Street.

It is estimated that this will save the council-owned leisure centre £25,000 a year, or £785,000 over the lifetime of the project.

Bayston Hill Parish Council has received £81,795 from the Great British Energy Community Fund to pay for solar panels, a heat pump and electric vehicle charging points in the village. 

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust also received funding for rooftop solar panels on its buildings. 

Great British Energy, the new government-owned energy company, announced its new local power plan, which will see up to £1 billion of public funding being made available for community-owned energy projects across England.

A spokesman for Great British Energy said it wanted to see more projects where solar panels were being used to support community pubs, charities and local communities, cutting bills and putting wealth back into people’s hands.

Mr Miliband said: “Britain’s drive for clean energy is about answering the call for a different kind of economy that works for the many, not just the wealthy and powerful in our society. Local and community energy is at the heart of our government’s vision.  

“With the biggest ever investment in community energy in Britain’s history, this government is saying to every local community: we want you to be able to own and control clean energy so the profits flow into your community not simply out to the big energy companies. 

“By giving local people the chance to take control of their energy, this government is making a fundamental choice to transfer wealth and power back to communities across Britain.” 

Dan McGrail, chief executive of Great British Energy, said the company aimed to support an initial 1,000 clean energy projects, helping to provide clean power by 2030 while improving energy security for the whole country and protecting bill payers.

“Communities are at the heart of Great British Energy’s mission," he said. "Local and community projects create cleaner, more secure and more affordable energy for our communities.  

“We are investing up to £1 billion into community and local energy projects so that people up and down the country can feel the benefit of public ownership with purpose.”