Financing Community Energy Survey Dataset

Description:

The data were gathered through a survey undertaken as part of the Financing Community Energy research project with the aim of improving understanding of the business models and financial characteristics of community energy projects in the UK. Data from individual projects have been aggregated into multi-project records in accordance with confidentiality undertakings made to survey participants. The survey formed part of the Financing Community Energy research project, itself part of the UK Energy Research Centre research programme. An analysis of the data has been published in Nature Energy (February 2020) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0546-4.
This project was led by Professor Carly McLachlan of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester, and funded as part of the UKERC research programme. It involved researchers from the University of Manchester, University of Strathclyde, and Imperial College. The researchers involved with the survey were Carly McLachlan, Sarah Mander, Maria Sharmina, Ed Manderson and Tim Braunholtz-Speight (University of Manchester); Matthew Hannon (University of Strathclyde); and Jeff Hardy (Imperial College). Christina Birch and Christopher Walsh (University of Manchester) also provided some research assistance to the survey. Some data from Community Energy England's (CEE) 2017 State of the Sector survey was also used, by agreement with CEE.
The survey covered characteristics of community energy organisations, and of the projects they run. With regard to organisations, it included legal structure, annual turnover, numbers of paid staff and volunteers, and numbers of members. In relation to each project, topics included: energy activities (including electricity or heat generation, and energy efficiency); ownership (sole or partnership type); financing (details of each instrument type, value, terms etc.); resources employed (including sites, technical, financial and legal services, general administration); costs (operating and financing); revenues (values and sources); value propositions (a range of economic, social and environmental propositions); customers (types, rates paid, etc.); and other beneficiaries.