Supporting Great British Energy’s People’s Power projects
It is not every day that our work gets a mention in a Prime Ministerial announcement. On 17 September, Great British Energy launched the first phase of its ‘People’s Power’ projects, opening up an initial £30 million of funding to support community and local energy projects across the UK. Behind the scenes, our Technology, Data and Systems Delivery (TDSD) teams have been supporting the launch through two grant management platforms developed and maintained by JBA.
Giving communities access to funding
Great British Energy is a publicly owned company based in Aberdeen, with a mission to provide clean, secure, community-owned green energy that benefits local communities.
Great British Energy’s Community Fund is providing £30 million of grant funding to help community organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland develop and build community-owned clean energy projects. A further £5 million Partnerships Grant is available to help local authorities in England work with community energy groups to develop clean energy projects.
Projects could include solar panels on community buildings, local wind farms or hydro schemes, with the funding designed to help communities develop projects in which they have a defined legal and financial interest. This would also improve air quality and create jobs in the sector, with clean-power proceeds flowing back into the local area.
The technology behind the application process
We have worked with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for over a decade, developing and maintaining grant management systems used by DESNZ, Great British Energy (GBE) and the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST).
Our Grant Applications Portal has supported 27 funding schemes to date, covering areas including regional growth, offshore wind, carbon capture and innovative manufacturing.
The launch of the GBE Community Fund and GBE Partnerships Grant marks a new use case for the portal, which has previously been used primarily for industry-focused funding schemes. For organisations applying to the funds, the process begins through the Grant Applications Portal developed, hosted, maintained and supported by JBA. For the first time, community and local energy groups are using the platform to apply for funding. Once applications are submitted, they automatically transfer to our second platform, the Grant Management Information System (GMIS).
GMIS is an internal system used by government teams to manage the full grant lifecycle, from assessment and approval through to monitoring, claims and reporting. Built to support a wide range of funding programmes, the system can manage schemes ranging from large industrial projects to smaller-scale, community-led initiatives. Together, these platforms provide the digital infrastructure that supports the administration of Great British Energy’s new community funding programmes.
The launch builds on our long-standing relationship with DESNZ, GBE and DBIST, demonstrating how our technology and grant management expertise can support government funding programmes as they evolve to reach new audiences and deliver funding to communities.
