Generating Hope
Work in progress
Generating Hope
Local power in partnership
Enhancing local energy systems forms a key element in government plans for enhancing energy security and sustainability. Current policy initiatives include Local Area Energy Planning (LEAP), the forthcoming Strategic Spatial Plan by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) and an ongoing focus on investment in clean energy. These plans intersect with the forthcoming establishment of Great British Energy, designed around owning, managing, and operating clean power projects, including local energy initiatives as part of the promised Local Power Plan.
The detail around the Local Power Plan currently remains thin, but if correctly managed such a policy could help scale-up decarbonisation efforts and deliver local energy solutions whilst contributing to the broader strategic goal of sustainable economic growth. At the local level, with capacity severely depleted and a decidedly mixed recent history of local government taking direct action in the energy sector, partnership working will be crucial to capitalise on this generational opportunity.
Generating Hope will investigate how the government’s local power ambitions can be brought to life through public-private partnership, building on case study examples like E.ON’s strategic energy partnership with Coventry City Council, which has helped shape a coherent local energy strategy and provided a framework for grants, investment and development.
Drawing on best practice and sector expertise, the final report will provide practical and pragmatic policy recommendations to central and local government.
In this research project, Localis will consider some of the most pressing concerns in the context of local power provision, local authority capacity, community engagement and benefits, and net zero policy initiatives, responding to the wider backdrop of the government’s invigorated commitments to climate change mitigation, and from a perspective of a drive towards efficient and well-managed public-private partnerships.
These concerns will include:
- How public-private partnerships can drive delivery at the local level of the government’s local power ambitions.
- How partnerships between local authorities and energy providers can facilitate other government policy goals.
- How strategic local energy partnerships can accelerate progress on the road to net zero.
This research project is kindly being sponsored by:
