Younity turns 5 as it champions over a third of Britain’s community energy

Britain’s community energy champion – Younity – is celebrating five years of supercharging grassroots community energy projects.

A joint venture between Octopus Energy and The Midcounties Co-operative, it has quickly become a powerhouse representing over a third of the UK community energy sector.

Younity has led the way in accelerating the sector’s growth, purchasing power from 100+ community-owned schemes, with 300 agreements in place, and generating green power for more than 60,000 homes.

To turbocharge the growth of new and existing projects making a positive impact in communities, it launched several initiatives to unlock funding.

Its ‘Community Energy Kickstart’ provides loans for construction costs – and enabled Bristol Energy Co-operative to install the UK’s biggest community-owned solar rooftop project.

Its ‘Powering Communities Fund’ has provided funding to support and amplify over 20 projects, from clean energy education, skills training for green jobs and more.

In addition, Younity’s tech innovation like its ‘Community Energy Connect’ online platform has brought together hundreds of people to share expertise and grow the sector.

Andy O’Brien, Co-founder of Bristol Energy Co-operative (southwest of England), said: “We’re over the moon to have got such quick access to funds needed to build our latest solar community energy project.”