Community Energy England (CCE) has published the UK’s first guide for communities interested in ownership of energy generation projects.

The move comes ahead of the government’s push for developers to offer community participation in new energy projects.

CCE’s new guide is tailored towards communities interested in getting involved with local energy projects. CCE hopes that the document will help local groups take advantage of the upcoming voluntary protocol which has been developed by the government’s Shared Ownership Taskforce.

“We at CCE want to do all we can to minimise any additional delay and cost to their projects. Our guide enables local groups to prepare for shared ownership, so that developers will find suitable project-ready community partners to deal with,” explained CEE chairman Philip Wolfe.

In a fortnight, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, Ed Davey is set to introduce the new protocol which would see developers obliged to offer community ownership options for projects worth over £2.5 million.

The government has warned that should the proposed voluntary arrangements prove unsuccessful it will step in to make it a legal requirement. The association has previously said that the government’s push for renewable developers to offer ownership of plants to communities should not be seen as a burden but an opportunity for the sector.

CCE says that it is readying another document for project developers to help provide clarity over the push for socially-owned energy assets in addition to a newly-launched website which provides more detail.  

The upcoming community-ownership protocol lists four distinct ownership scenarios: split ownership, joint ventures, shared revenue; and alternative innovative approaches.

The CCE’s Communities’ Guide to shared ownership can be viewed here