The transition to a low-carbon future is about more than renewable energy generation. Community energy organisations across the UK are increasingly demonstrating that local energy initiatives can create significant social, economic, and environmental benefits for the communities they serve. This was the main message of the webinar “Valuing Community Energy: Social Value Research Launch”, which introduced the VALCOM research project and explored how the social value of community energy can be understood, measured, and communicated.

The webinar brought together representatives from Community Energy Pathways, Community Energy England, and researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Sheffield, and Oxford. Their shared objective is to address a growing challenge within the sector: while the benefits of community energy are widely recognised, many of these impacts remain difficult to measure using existing evaluation frameworks.

Community energy organisations contribute far beyond renewable electricity generation. They create local employment opportunities, provide energy advice services, support vulnerable households, encourage community participation, and strengthen local resilience during the energy transition. As governments and funding bodies place increasing emphasis on demonstrating impact, the sector faces growing pressure to provide evidence of these wider benefits.

A key topic throughout the webinar was the concept of social value. While economic outputs, such as energy generation capacity or financial investment can be quantified relatively easily, many of the most meaningful outcomes of community energy projects are less tangible. Improved wellbeing, stronger community connections, increased participation in local decision-making, and support for households experiencing fuel poverty are all valuable outcomes, yet they are often difficult to capture through traditional measurement tools.

Researchers involved in the VALCOM project highlighted that numerous methodologies already exist for assessing social value, including Social Return on Investment (SROI) frameworks and procurement-based social value tools. However, these approaches can be resource-intensive and often require significant data collection efforts. For smaller community energy organisations that rely heavily on volunteers, the administrative burden associated with reporting can become an important challenge.

One of the most important findings discussed during the webinar relates to the balance between effort and impact. Preliminary research suggests that many organisations spend considerable time collecting and reporting data without always experiencing equivalent benefits from the reporting process. This raises an important question: how can social value be measured effectively without creating additional burdens for organisations that are already operating with limited resources?

To address this issue, the VALCOM project is launching a sector-wide survey aimed at understanding the priorities and reporting needs of community energy organisations. The research seeks to identify which outcomes matter most to the sector, what forms of data are already being collected, and how existing social value frameworks might be adapted to better reflect the realities of community energy delivery.
Early findings indicate that community energy organisations place particular importance on climate action, financial benefits for communities, and wellbeing outcomes. These priorities highlight the sector’s broader contribution to society and reinforce the argument that community energy should not be evaluated solely through energy generation metrics.

The webinar also emphasised the importance of ensuring that policymakers, regulators, and funding bodies can fully recognise the value created by community energy initiatives. As programmes such as the Local Power Plan and the Warm Homes Plan continue to develop, there is growing interest in demonstrating how community-led approaches contribute to national energy and climate objectives while simultaneously delivering local social benefits.

Ultimately, the VALCOM project represents an important step towards strengthening the evidence base for community energy. By developing more accessible and meaningful approaches to measuring social value, the research aims to support better policy decisions, improved funding opportunities, and greater recognition of the vital role that energy community organisations play in creating a fair and inclusive energy transition.

Find the webinar here.