Although local authorities in England and Wales continue to pursue energy transition, constrained budgets, connections, and access to expertise are holding back councils' renewable ambitions.
Local government workers are calling for more Government support, with renewable energy projects facing increasing pressure due to financial strain and a gap in technical understanding.
A new report from Commercial Services Group, based on structured roundtables involving 35 participants from 32 local authorities across England and Wales, reveals that despite progress in the pursuit of transition, more needs to be done to deliver on project ambitions.
National infrastructure barriers were further highlighted as a limitation for local authority developments, with inadequate space on the National Grid to facilitate new connections. Market volatility, driven by geopolitical uncertainty, were also flagged as causing delays and disruption to projects, risking energy security instability.
Crucially, participants, including officers and cabinet members across leadership, environment, energy, and climate roles, said more investment is needed to build the internal infrastructure needed to support complex energy programmes, including skills, capacity and organisational integration.
Progress for viable renewable energy projects depends on supporting councils with access to commercial and technical expertise. A whole system approach that embraces stronger cross-council collaboration and enables strategic, long-term planning will be key to deliver the government’s Clean Power 2030 ambitions and the Local Power Plan. Collaboration and forward planning is particularly critical in the context of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in the coming years.”
Grid capacity was highlighted to be one of the most consistent and acute barriers to deliver on renewable energy projects, and even when funding and political support exist for a project, they are frequently unable to proceed due to connection constraints, high costs, and long delays.
These issues clearly point to a fundamental misalignment between local ambition and national policy and infrastructure. Councils cannot deliver on their targets alone and the UK Government must commit to improving infrastructure and funding to help get these critical projects off the ground and support the longer-term UK energy transition
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