Report series: insights from UKRI-funded smart local energy system projects

Since 2018 the Prospering from the Energy Revolution challenge programme has funded more than 80 varied projects around the UK, developing approaches and models for smart local energy systems.

Towards the end of the programme, Innovate UK commissioned a series of insight reports to review and summarise the opportunities and barriers that the projects had discovered.

These reports were based on feedback from the projects, including interviews and workshops with the companies and organisations involved.

The first three reports focused on the projects’ experience in three specific areas:

• Finance and investment
• Policy and regulation
• Skills and capabilities

The fourth report, an insights summary, brought these themes together and added further analysis on topics such as data and digitalisation and consumer engagement.

Together, the reports paint a clear picture.

There are potentially enormous gains from widespread adoption of a more place-based approach to energy, alongside national systems.

Smart local energy systems can ease costs to consumers, build local prosperity, accelerate the journey to net zero, and improve energy security as regions become more self-sufficient.

But there are still major barriers, especially in the areas highlighted by these reports.

These four insight reports will help inform anyone interested in smart local energy systems and the role of local and regional energy policy and delivery in net zero.