This paper aims to analyze the implications of Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) support removal in the UK’s community energy sector and make recommendations for future business practices. European countries, including the UK, have recognized the critical role of Community Energy Cooperatives (CECs) in achieving low-carbon-energy transition targets through citizen engagements. However, due to the withdrawal of FIT support and other incentives in the UK, CECs struggle to sustain their profitability and growth. The subsidy-free, market-oriented policies have necessitated that CECs explore new business opportunities in collaboration with other actors of the business ecosystems. In this paper, we reviewed the impact of FIT support removal on community groups in the UK's member states, England, Scotland, and Wales. We analyzed effective business practices that CECs could follow to improve business viability and achieve growth. Based on our review, we make three recommendations for the business practices that can help CECs to remain profitable and grow in the UK’s subsidy-free environment. We recommend that CECs 1) take part in shared ownership projects, 2) collaborate with local actors for bottom-up initiatives, and 3) explore low-interest financing models within the business ecosystem. The implication of findings from this paper includes new knowledge for CEC managers and policymakers in countries where the community energy sector is at a novice stage.

The low-carbon energy transition framed as a social-technical system can enable researchers to gain insight into the complex interaction between niche actors and the dominant regime under the current energy policy landscape. This paper aims to analyze community-led energy initiatives through the lens of sustainable entrepreneurship and discern business practices that these niche actors use in the social-technical setting of the energy transition. Niche actors such as Community Energy Cooperatives (CECs) develop bottom-up solutions and overcome social-cognitive norms through citizen engagement. Especially in the UK, such community initiatives face resistance from the dominant regime due to the unfavorable policies and centralized institutional arrangements. The business practices based on sustainable entrepreneurship can enable community groups to create social, economic, and environmental values for the local communities. In our analysis, we observed that CECs exhibit traits of a sustainable entrepreneur in their efforts to support energy transition. We discerned following business practices based on sustainable entrepreneurship that CECs employ in the UK: (1) mission-driven and locally focused, (2) commercial venturing and collaboration, and (3) grassroots innovations and shared knowledge. In this paper, we observed a strong connection between the CEC business practices and sustainable entrepreneurship that provides a foundation for future academic interests. Further, we noted that intermediary organizations, as part of the business ecosystem, play a crucial role in supporting the UK’s community energy sector.

Over the last decade, demand-side policies are increasingly implemented to correct market failures and overcome the systemic problem in complex social-technical systems such as energy transition. This paradigm shift in policy approach results from realizing that relying solely on supply-side policy instruments to push innovative solutions into the market is insufficient. As part of the energy transition, many developed countries have considered Biogas from Waste (BfW) based on the Anaerobic Digestion (AD) process as a realistic renewable energy source and aim to create social, economic, and environmental benefits for their communities. Despite several policy instruments in the UK over the last ten years, the growth of BfW schemes remains subdued and faces market failures. This paper aims to evaluate elements of demand-side policies focused on addressing market failures to increase the diffusion of BfW schemes in the UK. We discussed effective demand-side policies related to the biogas sector in other European countries like Sweden, Denmark, and Italy. In the analysis, we observed UK’s policy instruments do not effectively address market externalities in the biogas sector. We also observed the biomethane market share in the UK is minimal; there is no market policy for green gas labeling towards demand articulation. The paper also made recommendations for policymakers in the UK to address market failures by proposing a push-pull policy model that combines demand-side policy interventions with supply-side policies.