A home owner stands, with a member of the local council, beside her bungalow council house that has solar power installed on the roof.

The Energy Learning Network

Charging up community energy

The Energy Learning Network is powering forward community energy projects across the UK – helping more groups launch or grow schemes that decarbonise the grid, and create instant benefits for local people.

The network will bring free insights, resources and connections to existing community energy groups, as well as other groups looking to become involved in local energy projects for the first time. It will create mentoring and peer learning opportunities too.

The Network

The network is a collaboration between climate solutions charity Ashden, the Centre for Sustainable Energy, and leading community energy bodies in every UK nation: Community Energy England, Community Energy Scotland, Community Energy Wales, and Northern Ireland’s Action Renewables.

A Climate Action Fund project

National Lottery Community Fund logo

It’s made possible by four years of funding, totaling £1.5 million, from the National Lottery Community Fund.

This grant comes from the Climate Action Fund, a £100 million commitment over 10 years from The National Lottery Community Fund to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change and involve more people in climate action. This forms part of one of the funder’s four key missions in its 2030 strategy, ‘It starts with community’ – supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable.   

A council home owner stands, with a member of Energise Barnsley, beside his newly installed electric boiler that is powered by solar panels.

Why charge up community energy?

Community energy projects give local people the chance to own or control clean power generation, and work with their neighbours to lower bills and reduce energy demand too. Schemes in the UK already generate 617 GWh of clean energy – enough to power more than 220,000 homes – and have supported householders to make annual savings of nearly £4.5million.

By bringing together leading organisations to tackle barriers and gaps in support, the network will unlock more of the sector’s potential – and help more communities enjoy the benefits of clean energy.

Would you like support from an Energy Learning Network Mentor? 

The Energy Leaning Network are offering up to three days of mentoring support for individuals involved in community organisations acting on energy.  

Why mentoring? 

Mentoring offers a one-on-one relationship with someone who can provide: 

  • Objective insights and practical advice 
  • Support to build confidence and skills 
  • Connections and knowledge from outside the organisation 

 

The peer mentors are individuals who have expertise in a particular area – whether topic-based (such as solar energy, low carbon retrofit or selling power) or process-based (such as engaging diverse audiences or communicating with younger audiences). 

Your mentor will act as a sounding board, a listening ear, and a critical friend who will help you think through issues that are important to you. 

 

How can mentoring benefit me?   

  • It can help you build new skills, feel more confident, and make useful connections with others. 
  • Having an external mentor, in particular, canbring a fresh perspective, objectivity, and useful knowledge from different contexts.   
  • Mentoring can support a huge range of development goals – from working on a particular skill, exploring potential career paths, togetting support to solve complex work situations.   

What support will I get? 

Your three days of mentoring support would usually be provided over a period of three months to a year. The frequency, form and location of your meetings will be agreed between you and your mentor.  

We have mentors with experience in; governance, technical (generation and demand reduction), communication and partnership building, share offers and fundraising, monitoring and evaluation, project management and development, organisational set up,  energy advice and retrofit, volunteer recruitment and management, asset management, planning, risk management, HR and day to day business management, community engagement and much more.   

 

How do I get involved?  

We will be awarding mentor support on a first come, first served basis – allowing for a spread of support across the UK. 

We will contact you at the point we reach your application and identify a suitable mentor.

You can read more about this opportunity in the handbooks below and apply through the links below when you are ready to do so. 

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