Bristol Energy Co-operative (BEC) is one of the largest and longest running community energy organisations in the UK. Michelle Cook met with their CEO, Helen Martin, to find out more.
Michelle: Thanks so much for meeting me today, Helen. I’ll start with a simple question: What is community energy?
Helen: There are various kinds, but broadly community energy is defined by communities coming together to acquire and manage a local energy asset. This can be on any scale from a street working together to install solar panels across their rooftops or retrofit their houses to a much wider area or regional programme.
At BEC, we describe ourselves as a community-owned energy generator. We work with a variety of local groups and enterprises to install solar panels on their rooftops (at no upfront cost to them) which serve their energy needs, reduce their bills, and export surplus back to the national grid. We have a couple of solar farms and a whole host of rooftop installations which we manage across Bristol and the surrounding area.
What all energy co-ops have in common is local people getting involved in how their energy is produced and managed. That means people have a meaningful say in where the energy assets are built and how they are run; and the financial benefits of the investments are kept in the local community. We operate for the benefit of the community not for profits of shareholders, that’s our raison d’être.
Growing from a small start
M: Tell us a bit more about BEC in particular.
H: We’ve been around since 2011. We started small, building solar rooftop arrays on community buildings, but soon expanded to developing our own solar farms and more. Over the years we have invested £13.4M in bringing 20 solar and battery projects online, with a total peak capacity of 12 megawatts—enough to power 3,500 typical homes.
Our projects have been funded by our 1,600 investor members, alongside commercial borrowing and some grants. Members receive interest on their investment from the money we receive for the energy we produce. They’re also a big part of how we operate: as a cooperative, we make big decisions democratically, on a one-member one-vote basis, and our Board is elected by and from our members.
The co-op keeps our assets in community ownership, so the community benefits from the investments over the long term. So far, we have directed over £400,000 to support local projects. There’s loads more we can do—we can see enormous potential in community energy, so we’re still actively looking for new members, as well as for more projects to invest in.
M: That’s an important distinction between traditional energy generating companies and co-ops, isn’t it? The benefits of the assets stay within the community and are not ploughed into corporate profits and dividends. For example, locally to me, there’s huge opposition to the installation of a new solar farm. But if it were a community asset, I wonder if it would be received differently.
H: That’s really the difference that community energy brings. There’s going to be massive investment in the coming years to make the transition to net zero and the question is who’s going to benefit from the returns on that investment. When big companies come and build and encroach on local communities, that risks becoming a different kind of extractive energy production, where the profits are going to offshore investors.
People feel very differently about these assets if they are theirs. When you see the wind turbine moving, that means you’re earning.
Local energy production can also make the logistics of managing the balance between generation and usage easier.
It’s complex, because obviously our pension funds are also investors of these large companies, and large infrastructure projects require huge investment that local co-operatives couldn’t manage, particularly offshore. There will always be a need for large companies to supply large-scale demand, but community energy has a vital part to play in making the transition just.
The new government has signalled that they are supportive of smaller, local generators. Under the Local Power Plan they have pledged £400 million in low-interest loans to community groups to develop community-owned projects.
There are other challenges around getting connection to the grid, which has developed for the traditional energy market, and public awareness of community energy. So it’s both daunting and exciting!
What is the attraction?
M: How did you personally get involved with BEC? What attracted you to the community energy sector?
H: I spent years working overseas in international development, mostly in infrastructure finance and development. Over the years, I had a growing sense of wanting to engage in my own community – that there was important work to do back home. I also wanted to put down roots at home with my family.
Getting involved in community energy is something concrete where you can see how it can make a meaningful contribution to net zero transition. There’s also a ripple effect—seeing this stuff working locally has a transformational effect that makes you keen to do more. People can connect with it at a more personal level, and this shifts us away from the feeling of helplessness. It’s hugely valuable beyond just the electricity we’re generating.
M: That was another one of my questions! How do you stay optimistic? Is the key doing something, getting involved?
H: I think that’s exactly it. Shifting from worrying to doing and seeing how you’re doing connects to the big picture. There’s a huge amount of work to do but there’s a huge amount already going on. It’s an optimistic time and the early signs are that the change of government is helpful in this area.
Projects in the pipeline
M: Could you tell us more about your existing assets and some of the projects in the pipeline?
H:.Our most recent projects have all been rooftop solar installations – we’re building a power station on the rooftops of Bristol! The latest project to go online is a solar installation at Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) base. Community energy is now powering life-saving services across the West of England thanks to a new 240-kilowatt peak rooftop array.
In recent years we have been exploring different models for community energy such as microgrids, which we’ve invested in with partners.
These are new energy efficient housing developments built with solar panels and a co-located battery, with a single connection to the grid. So they’re operating as a closed loop system with the battery enabling them to balance out generation and demand. They can also export back to the grid in a clever way to optimise income from the grid.
We’ve also invested in battery storage to support clean supply and demand balance at a site in central Bristol.
We’re looking at small-scale ground mount facilities that combine solar, wind and battery to maximise generation from a single grid connection. We’ve managed to get a small grant from the regional net zero hub to help test this model. These grants, partnerships, and learning from each other help us all develop.
Projects come to us in all sorts of ways, through word of mouth or local events for example. Sometimes we will reach out to organisations too. It just depends.
M: It’s such an innovative market. And community energy groups are popping up all over the country. What advice would give to someone thinking of starting a community energy organisation?
H: The good news is there are a lot of resources available. The first place to go would be to Community Energy England (CEE.) There are comparable organisations for Scotland and Wales.
They are about to launch a training and learning platform within a programme to build capacity in the sector. They also have great networks of organisations to link with. The sector is collaborative by nature as we’re all so local.
CEE hold regular monthly calls for organisations and host a noticeboard where people post questions and respond. There are various volunteering platforms where you can connect with people who have experience in the sector. It’s a way for us all to add value beyond the energy we generate. The really lovely thing about the sector is how mutually supportive it is.
M: What a great note to finish on! Thanks, Helen for a fascinating and inspiring conversation.
To find out more, visit: Home – Bristol Energy Cooperative
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