Climate action: Find out more about community energy in the South Downs National Park
April 9, 2025
Climate action is springing up in towns and villages across the South Downs in the form of new community energy schemes.
Helping to deliver carbon reduction, these initiatives also aim to deliver energy security and more predictable costs for home and business owners.
With support from East Hampshire District Council, Winchester City Council and South Downs National Park Authority, a non-profit co-operative called Energise South Downs (ESD) has been delivering a series of workshops with local communities.
We catch up with Katherine Hewetson, ESD Community Lead, and Catriona Cockburn, Chief Executive of ESD, to find out more.
Can you tell us a bit more about these workshops?
Future Energy Landscapes is a workshop that enables communities to have informed conversations about their understanding and feelings towards renewable energy technologies and then imagine how and where those different technologies might be acceptable (or not) in their local landscape. Participants learn about how much energy their community uses to power and heat their homes, how much carbon that then creates and what happens if they look at generating their electricity and heat from local, renewable energy technologies.
How have you been working with the National Park?
The National Park has generously funded a road show of the Future Energy Landscapes workshop, so we have been able to host communities in and around the park to start an important conversation about renewable energy. Over the last year we have taken the workshop to towns like Petersfield and Liss, as well as rural communities such as Harting and Upham Parish and have lots more planned.
What have you learned through these workshops?
People are often stunned by how little solar or wind power they would need to power their communities.
Local people know about their local landscape and community and need to be central to the conversation about our transition away from fossil fuels. What the workshops have also highlighted is the critical need for policy change, making it mandatory for new homes to have renewables and for better information and finance being made available to homeowners so that we can see low carbon domestic technologies being taken up at scale.
What is community energy?
It is about local energy for local people. Community energy schemes deliver carbon savings through locally generated renewable energy projects, funded by local investment. They give communities a say in how and where their power is generated, placing people and communities, at the centre of the low-carbon transition.
Why is community energy growing?
The transition away from fossil fuels to power our homes and industry is a huge undertaking. Community energy can enable local small-scale generation projects to get off the ground relatively quickly compared to large commercial schemes. Because they come from local people and groups who deeply understand the local context, they are welcomed by that community.
What have been your achievements so far at Energise South Downs?
Our first 18 months has been about reaching out to communities to raise awareness about the huge potential that community energy has. We have worked closely with local authorities to support and influence policy with regards to the renewable energy transition and have supported local organisations to develop their own projects through carrying out feasibility studies and supporting them with funds through successful applications for grants. ESD won the CPRE Hampshire Climate Action Countryside Award and we were also shortlisted finalist for Community Energy group of the year award at the Community Energy England awards.
What’s the ultimate goal?
Our ultimate goal has been to get our first community-owned renewable energy projects over the line. In Spring 2025, Energise South Downs will launch its first share offer to raise capital for solar panels at three rooftop sites in Hampshire, with accessible minimum investments to ensure everyone can get involved. The system size is 280 kWp with an annual energy production 260000 MWh and will save a total of 56 tonnes of carbon in the first year. To have your say on the future of community energy in the South Downs and sign up for the Energise South Downs newsletter to be the first to hear about investment opportunities, click here.
How can I get involved and find out more? Can I attend one of the workshops?
Sign up to our Newsletter and find out about our how you can attend one of our workshops here
