Point and Sandwick Trust (PST) has welcomed the publication of a major new report by the House of Commons Energy and Net Zero Committee, Get Connected: How Community Energy Can Turbocharge the Transition, which calls for greater support for community-owned energy projects across the UK.
Responding to the report, Dr Calum MacDonald, Director of Point and Sandwick Trust, said, “Communities across the country are crying out to see the economic benefits of green energy and they shouldn’t have to wait until 2030 or 2035 when they can see billions of pounds of wind farm profit going abroad every year which could be reinvested in the UK.
“That’s why we can’t have an ‘Energy Independence Bill’ that doesn’t also give local communities the means to achieve their own energy independence and to deliver community energy at scale, reinvesting the profits back into our local economies.
“The Government needs to deliver economic justice in energy policy with the same urgency and priority that it is giving to delivering net zero and this landmark report, agreed unanimously by the Committee, shows exactly how it can be done.”
Point and Sandwick Trust owns and operates Beinn Ghrideag, the UK’s largest community-owned wind farm on the Isle of Lewis. Since becoming operational in 2015, the project has generated millions of pounds for community benefit, supporting local services, employment, training, environmental initiatives and social projects across the Western Isles.