Cowal Community Energy

Giving the community a stake in Cowal's energy wealth

About us

Cowal Community Energy (CCE) is a community-led organisation working to bring the economic benefits of renewable energy directly to communities in the Cowal region. Formed by local development trusts and supported by national partners, CCE is focused on maximising the financial return from renewable energy projects—keeping profits in Cowal and benefitting the local economy.

While large-scale wind and hydro developments in Cowal currently generate substantial profits for external companies, CCE will work to secure a fair share of these profits are retained for our local communities. We will maintain a neutral stance on new corporate developments, but when projects do proceed, we shall actively pursue meaningful shared ownership opportunities. Through strategic investments, we aim to own stakes in local renewable assets, ensuring communities benefit directly from the energy transition. This proven community ownership model has already delivered transformational results elsewhere in Scotland, generating millions of pounds in long-term income that supports vital local projects, community groups, charities, services, and infrastructure. CCE is committed to bringing these same benefits to Cowal, creating lasting prosperity for our communities through renewable energy.

We are pursuing opportunities from the repowering of the Cruach Mhor wind farm, and the proposed wind farms at Giant’s Burn and Inverchaolain. Our work is guided by the principle that, where communities find themselves hosting renewable developments, they should also share them, shape them and thrive from them.

Development Trust Members

Benmore and Kilmun Community Development Trust
Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust
Dunoon Community Development Trust
Lochgoil Community Trust
Sandbank Community Development Trust
South Cowal Trust
Strachur and District Community Development Company
Tighnabruaich District Development Trust

Join us as we work together to secure a greener, fairer, and more resilient future for our communities.

What this means

Our vision

Cowal Community Energy (CCE) exists to maximise community ownership of renewable energy across the Cowal peninsula. Our goal is simple but transformative: to ensure that a greater proportion of the financial benefits from wind and other renewable energy developments stay within Cowal, creating a long-term legacy of prosperity, sustainability, and resilience for our communities.

Why community ownership?

Community-owned wind farms offer significantly greater financial returns to local communities compared to corporate developments. Community-owned wind farms typically return around £100,000 per megawatt (MW) per year in net profit to their local areas. Recent studies have shown that the financial benefit to communities can be 34 to 100 times higher with community ownership when compared to commercial developments (Aquaterra, 2021; Voar, 2024).

While it is important to acknowledge that energy market prices can fluctuate—and this will affect overall returns—shared ownership ensures a greater proportion of profits are retained locally.

What will this mean for Cowal?

If we achieve local ownership of energy resources, the profits stay here. That money can be reinvested:

Support for Local charities and community groups
Support to reduce fuel poverty
Support local environment and biodiversity
Support for businesses and jobs
Community resilience and wellbeing

Sustainable infrastructure

Youth opportunities
Affordable housing

It’s a bold, timely response to decades of under-investment and funding cuts. Now more than ever, we need local solutions backed by long-term income streams that communities control.

Is this feasible?

Yes—absolutely. It’s already happening.

Just look to the Isle of Lewis, where West Coast Community Energy Ltd is developing a 43MW community-owned wind farm, backed by three local communities. Or consider Denmark, where over 50% of onshore wind is community-owned. Closer to home, the Point and Sandwick Trust on Lewis has returned nearly £9 million to its community since 2016 through its windfarm project.

You can see the impact in this short film:
🎥 Watch: What Community Energy Can Do

Cowal can do the same—and we’re already taking the first steps.

How will it be funded?

All the work and development of Cowal Community Energy will be funded through different options, ensuring that there will be no financial risk to any individuals or community organisations within Cowal.:

Cowal Community Energy (CCE) and Community Energy Scotland (CES) have been awarded funding from Ofgem’s Energy Redress Fund to explore opportunities for community ownership in Cowal

CCE will apply to Local Energy Scotland’s CARES scheme for early stage financial, legal, and technical advice to support negotiations with developers

Investment through shared ownership will be financed through borrowing from a combination of commercial banks and social investors (such as the Scottish National Investment Bank)

Join Us

CCE is open to any incorporated Development Trust in Cowal, on the basis of there being one Development Trust in respect of each community council area with that Development Trust having a wide remit for its area. By acting together, we can build a cleaner, fairer, and more prosperous region for generations to come.

👉 Want to get involved? cowalcommunityenergy@gmail.com

What's next?

Momentum is building to secure a real stake for communities in the renewable energy transition—and we need your support.

With backing from community groups across Cowal, we can show a strong public mandate.

This matters, because:

We must be united and act early to maximise the opportunities. Although developments are still at an early stage and all might not even progress, now is the time to engage with developers and negotiate the best shared ownership deal

Public bodies such as Forestry and Land Scotland have a responsibility to respond to the ambitions of local communities and should encourage developers on their land to offer meaningful shared ownership opportunities

By joining CCE now your Development Trusts are playing an active and important role in shaping the overall strategy and future direction of CCE

Our ambition is to lead the way and demonstrate the enormous potential that shared ownership holds for communities across Scotland.