Enabling energy Sharing Communities could be a wide-reaching success for policymakers

Sometimes, a change in policy made with one goal in mind can have a raft of additional benefits. 

Take the United States’ 1970 Clean Air Act. While it was initially conceived to improve air quality and protect public health, it had the welcome side-effect of reducing the effects of pollution on plants and providing them with less obstructed access to sunlight. This led to a reported 4% and 3% growth in corn and soybean yields respectively, which in a country like the US led in turn to billions of dollars in economic benefits. 

The Clean Air Act was a complex piece of legislation, a comprehensive federal law with considerable reach and impact. But a change in policy doesn’t have to be grand or sweeping to make a major difference to the environment, the economy, and people’s lives. 

By making a common sense and straightforward change to how we price some electricity in one specific context, for instance, we could empower the UK to establish Energy Sharing Communities that could have far-reaching benefits in many areas of British life. Here’s how. 

Removing transmission costs to enable energy sharing 

An Energy Sharing Community is where buildings such as schools, hospitals, libraries, churches, and other services or businesses install rooftop solar PV to meet their energy needs, and then sell surplus to local homes and businesses at an affordable rate. 

At the moment, potential prosumers (those generating the electricity) are disincentivised from establishing these communities by the transmission costs that would be applied to the electricity they would export. These costs are intended to pay for use of the UK’s high voltage grid, but because an Energy Sharing Community operates locally, the power it produces travels directly to the end-consumer without making it onto the grid in the first place. 

Removing these transmission costs for Energy Sharing Communities only would make it viable for all kinds of prosumers to install solar PV with help from E.ON and raise additional revenue through export tariffs that are affordable for customers. 

It’s an incredibly simple change. But like many great pieces of policy, it could have far reaching positive effects in all kinds of areas: 

Healthcare 

There are more than 1,000 hospitals in the UK, many of which could feasibly install large solar PV systems. By taking part in Energy Sharing Communities, they could raise additional funds to pour back into healthcare, while reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and supporting further positive health outcomes through reducing air pollution. 

Education 

Not only would Energy Sharing Communities save on energy bills and generate additional revenue for the country’s schools, it would also give children direct contact with the UK’s energy transition, teaching future generations about what it means to live in a responsible and sustainable community and society. 

In a nationally representative survey of 2,000 people we commissioned from YouGov, 85% of respondents said that generating and selling electricity from rooftop solar is a good way for public services like schools and hospitals to raise additional funds, compared to just 4% who said it was not. 

Housing 

One aspect of housing inequality is that renters and those living in multi-residence buildings are currently unable to install and benefit from solar PV. By establishing Energy Sharing Communities we would effectively be giving them access to the same cheap solar electricity, only it’s generated on another rooftop in their area. This would mean that everyone could access cheaper bills and play a bigger part in the energy transition, regardless of the kind of accommodation they live in. 

Communities 

At this time of increased polarisation, we need more than ever to find ways of bringing people together and connecting them with their communities. The same YouGov polling found that an impressive 77% of the people said that they would feel “more proud of and connected to [their] community knowing that local services like schools, hospitals, churches, and libraries were powering local homes through rooftop solar”.  

Business and the Economy 

Not only would Energy Sharing Communities create thousands of installation and maintenance jobs in the engineering sector, but they could also have a direct positive impact on businesses and their relationships with customers. 

57% of respondents to our YouGov survey said they would be more likely to shop at supermarkets that help power the local community with rooftop solar. Using separate YouGov research for comparison, this ranks only slightly below “lower prices” as a reason for choosing a supermarket. 

At the same time, by keeping energy generation local and reducing the need for extremely expensive upgrades to the national grid, energy sharing could also shave tens of billions of pounds from the bill for net zero.  

The Environment 

It goes without saying, but bringing Energy Sharing Communities to the UK would be a major step in the transition to net zero, making solar power a significant part of the country’s renewable energy portfolio and far exceeding all existing targets for the nation’s solar output. 

By reducing the need for large scale solar farms it would also help protect greenbelt land, leaving it free for sustainable agriculture or rewilding projects and helping to preserve the country’s natural beauty. 

Enabling energy sharing could be positive milestone  

Though a relatively new concept, energy sharing stands to have considerable public support, with our YouGov poll finding that a staggering 93% of people are behind the idea. 

Following a successful pilot in Spain, we’re already working to bring a similar proof-of-concept to the UK, and are keen to work with the Government on expanding our efforts and making Energy Sharing Communities a reality in all parts of the country. 

Given the wide-ranging impacts that this idea and the modest policy adjustment required to realise it could have not just for energy, but healthcare, the economy, education, housing, and the environment, we think that enabling Energy Sharing Communities through changing the rules around transmission costs could prove a highly popular move for policy makers, and for Britain.