Rural Community Energy Fund Launches

• Rural Community Energy Fund Launches
• Support Available for Community Groups

The Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) has been launched to support rural communities in England to develop renewable energy projects which provide economic and social benefits to the community.

The fund will provide up to approximately £150,000 of funding for feasibility and pre-planning development work to help projects become investment ready: approximately £20,000 to pay for an initial investigation into the feasibility of a renewable energy project followe by an unsecured local of up to approximately £130,000 to support planning applications and develop a robust business case to attract further investment. Community groups will need to pay back a set amount on top of the loan borrowed which will be rolled back into the fund to help support even more community energy projects across rural England.

Funding can be used to support rural projects across the renewable and low carbon energy spectrum including wind, solar, biomass, heat pumps, anaerobic digestion, gas Combined Heat and Power and hydro.

Two organisations are offering help to community groups looking to apply to the fund:

Centre for Sustainable Energy: www.cse.org.uk/news/view/1740

Nottingham Energy Partnership: www.nottenergy.com