The government has called on schools, football clubs, churches, and community groups across the UK to explore the potential for deploying clean technologies, inviting bids for grants from a £10m fund.

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced yesterday that its Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) had already helped over 150 communities across the UK deliver greenhouse gas emissions and energy bill savings through a wide range of clean technology projects.

It added that the initial £15m fund still has £10m available to support projects and the government is inviting interested parties to submit bids, which will then be assessed by five regional Local Energy hubs across the UK that are hosted by local authorities.

New community projects across England are now being encouraged to apply for feasibility grants of up to £40,000 for green initiatives, such as solar battery storage, wind, hydro and geothermal heat installations.

Viable proposals will then be considered for further grants of up to £100,000 for business development and planning applications.

Acting energy and clean growth minister Chris Skidmore said community-level clean energy projects were critical to the success of the UK's soon to be legally adopted net zero emissions target.  

"It will take all corners of the country and sections of society to help us to tackle climate change on our path to becoming a net zero emissions economy and communities are at the heart of our mission for a greener planet," he said. "This £10m fund can help sports clubs, churches and schools not only save money and reduce emissions by creating their own clean energy but also make money by selling it back to the grid."

The government said the fund had already delivered a host of successful projects, highlighting how Frome Town FC installed over 200kW of solar capacity that has helped cut carbon emissions by 333 tons and generated almost £70,000 for the local community by selling extra solar electricity back to the grid.

Similarly, in Wiltshire RCEF funding helped not-for profit Salisbury Community Energy develop renewable energy projects at eight sites across the city, including exploring the possibility of installing solar panels on the roof of the cloisters of Salisbury cathedral, as well as a feasibility study into a hydro project at the Mill in the Maltings.

"Climate change is going to hit us all hard," said Alison Craig, development manager at Salisbury Community Energy. "The flood risk to Salisbury has, according to the most recent Environment Agency data, risen significantly. This makes the move towards making Salisbury zero carbon all the more important. These grants have enabled us to take the crucial first steps in creating green community assets for our historic city."

The market for small scale renewables installations has slowed in recent years after the government cut and then axed the popular feed-in tariff incentive scheme. However, ministers recently announced plans to that to introduce a new Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme that will allow installations to sell power back to the grid from next year.

Industry insiders are hopeful the new scheme, coupled with falling renewables costs and the growing maturity of energy storage and smart grid technologies, will help drive fresh demand for community scale clean energy projects. However, others have warned it remains to be seen whether the SEG scheme will enable a reasonable price for the power that is sold and as such campaigners are continuing to call on the government to revamp its policy framework for small scale renewables projects.