What is State of the Sector?
The Community Energy State of the Sector research provies the most comprehensive and inclusive review of community energy in the UK, in collaboration with Community Energy Wales and Community Energy Scotland. Having access to data on the sector is vital for community energy organisations, stakeholders and policy makers to understand and communicate about the sector, encourage investment and bring about supportive policies.
To find out more about the importance of the State of the Sector and why your data is crucial, watch a recording of the recent Energy Learning Network webinar here.
State of the Sector Data Collection 2025
The data collection window for the 2025 State of the Sector research is now open until 17 March. We ask that community energy organisations update their data to ensure the next outputs are as comprehensive and accurate as possible and capture a clear and accurate picture of the community energy landscape. Whether you're updating existing information or providing new data, your organisation’s data is a valuable part of this research.
Updating your data only takes a few minutes, but its impact lasts all year.
How can I provide my data?
Our data portal allows community energy organisations to provide their data.
If you are already registered you can log in to the portal and update your data. If you are new to the portal you register via email.
What are the Outputs from State of the Sector?
Scrolling infographic telling the story of community energy in 2024
The second output from our State of the Sector 2024 research is a scrolling infographic that tells the story of what community energy is, what the sector does and the impacts and benefits it delivers. Keep scrolling and the document shares details about the sector’s progress, potential and challenges, and explains ways of supporting the sector to develop and grow. A wide range of new statistics from the research are used to illustrate the scale and breadth of the sector.
Download the scrolling infographic
UK sector overview 2024
The first output from State of the Sector 2024 is our UK sector overview. This provides a summary of the community energy sector in the UK, showing how the sector has developed over 2022 & 2023 and equipping people and organisations within and beyond the sector with key data that demonstrates the scale and impact of the sector.
Download the UK sector overview
We encourage you to share the outputs from 2024 with your members and investors and with your MPs, local authority contacts and other local stakeholders. We have provided the main overview infographic as a standalone file you can use for PowerPoint presentations.
The National Community Energy Map
The State of the Sector data all feeds into our National Community Energy Map which is a great way to demonstrate the size and scale of our movement (and is the most viewed page on our website).
Data Portal
Our data portal allows community energy organisations to provide their data. The portal will remain open all year for organisations to review and edit their data and add new sites of community energy activity - we will be regularly taking this site data and updating our national map.
Community energy organisations can join the portal all year round. The first user from a community energy organisation will need to email sots@communityenergyengland.org and we will grant access. If you submitted data through the portal for last year's State of the Sector you do not need to request access again.
Once you have access, users can add other people associated with their organisation by inviting them via their email address – click on your organisation, then “Members”, then “+ Invite Members”.
Click here to access the new data portal
Thank you to our members and other providers of data for your ongoing support. State of the Sector is generously sponsored by SP Energy Networks. This support is vital for enabling us to conduct the research.
Previous reports and regional DNO reports
You can download previous State of the Sector UK reports and regional DNO reports from our publications page.