Community renewable shared ownership in Scotland research
Location notice
Please note that this page contains information and links most relevant for people living in Scotland.
Background
Community shared ownership (CSO) involves a community group becoming a financial partner over the lifetime of a renewable energy project. CSO seeks to generate long-term socioeconomic benefits to surrounding communities and plays a pivotal role in the Scottish Government’s aim of delivering a just transition.
The Scottish Government commissioned us to undertake research on CSO of renewable energy projects. The research aimed to:
Assess the current and forecast CSO renewable energy projects pipeline.
Identify enablers that support and sustain CSO pipeline growth.
To achieve these aims, we conducted:
Quantitative analysis of the CSO proposal pipeline.
A total of 25 qualitative in-depth interviews with community groups, project developers, intermediary organisations, and investors.
This report presents the findings from the research.
Analysis of the CSO pipeline
The analysis used the Local Energy Scotland (LES) team dataset of renewable energy developments covering September 2018 to December 2024.
Of the 214 consented proposals in the dataset, 71 (33%) mentioned CSO. There were 28 CSO projects at the stage of developing a memorandum of understanding or heads of terms between project developers and local communities. The pipeline was relatively modest and almost entirely focused on onshore wind proposals.
Between 2019 and 2022, there were seven projects where a community had invested in an operational development. No projects had secured community investment since 2022.
Between 2025 and 2030, it’s estimated between 122 megawatts (MW) and 260MW of generating capacity will come under CSO. The estimated required community investment associated with that generating capacity is between £120 million and £340 million.
Key barriers to the progression of CSO projects
Stakeholder research identified the following barriers to sustaining and growing the CSO pipeline:
A lack of clear incentives for project developers to offer CSO and meaningfully engage with local communities on CSO opportunities.
Lengthy project development timescales result in the loss of momentum, community support and key members of project teams.
A lack of community interest or demand to pursue CSO opportunities.
Where there’s demand, some communities lack the capabilities or resources to progress CSO opportunities.
Communities face difficulties accessing finance to secure CSO for renewable projects.
Community councils as the first point of contact for project developers cause delays or bottlenecks.
Key enablers for CSO
Stakeholder research identified the following enablers for supporting and progressing CSO proposals:
The project developer carries out meaningful engagement with the local community on the CSO opportunity, including regular communication and effective information sharing.
The community group has the necessary capabilities, motivation and time to progress the CSO opportunity.
Expert advice and support for communities to progress CSO.
Access to finance and the community’s ability to raise funds for CSO.
Recommendations
The report outlines recommendations emerging from the research, including those that can be led by the Scottish Government, with the support of sector stakeholders. It also gives specific recommendations for project developers, local communities, potential investors and the UK government.
Some of the key recommendations for the Scottish Government include:
Develop practical tools or resources for the different approaches to achieving CSO of renewable projects.
Identify best practices and develop case studies to facilitate peer-to-peer learning.
Fund paid staff to work alongside communities in progressing CSO initiatives.
Explore ways to increase financing for CSO, for example through providing co-funding or patient debt.
