A community share offer backing the UK’s first community-owned solar energy battery has reached 80% of its £500,000 target, with more than a month still remaining before it closes.
Low Carbon Hub, a social enterprise developing community-owned renewable energy projects across Oxfordshire, is inviting public and organisational investment into a new battery at its Ray Valley Solar Park in Arncott, near Bicester.
So far, around 200 investors have contributed a combined £440,000 towards the £1.8 million battery installation, which will sit alongside one of the UK’s largest community-owned solar parks.
Ray Valley Solar Park, established by Low Carbon Hub in 2022, generates enough clean electricity to power approximately 7,000 homes. The addition of battery storage is intended to improve how that energy is used, stored, and sold back to the grid.
Currently, solar generation is constrained by daylight hours and grid demand, meaning surplus electricity is often exported at times when prices are lower, or occasionally curtailed when the grid cannot absorb it. The new battery will store excess energy generated during peak sunshine hours and release it later when demand – and electricity prices – are higher.
This shift is expected to make renewable generation more efficient, reduce wasted clean energy, and increase revenues that are reinvested into further community energy schemes.
Low Carbon Hub says the battery could save around 809 MWh of clean electricity each year from being wasted – enough to power roughly 300 homes – and deliver an estimated 102 tonnes of carbon savings annually, equivalent to removing around 45 cars from the road.
Dr Barbara Hammond MBE, CEO of Low Carbon Hub, described investor response as “genuinely exciting”, highlighting the significance of the project as the UK’s first community-owned battery co-located with a community-owned solar park.
She said continued momentum could see even greater community ownership of the infrastructure, reducing reliance on loans and increasing the flow of surplus income back into local environmental initiatives.
The share offer, which opened on 26 March 2026, is hosted via the community investment platform Ethex and remains open until 26 June 2026. Investments start at £100, with a maximum contribution of £100,000.
Low Carbon Hub enables members of the public to co-own renewable infrastructure, with investors receiving a financial return alongside the wider community benefit of reinvested profits. All surplus generated from its portfolio of 56 renewable energy projects across Oxfordshire is channelled into local decarbonisation and energy efficiency initiatives supporting homes, schools and businesses.
Investor Eleanor Watts said she was motivated by the project’s wider environmental impact, noting that returns are combined with the knowledge that profits support local environmental groups and community action.
Low Carbon Hub is one of the UK’s largest community energy organisations, and the Ray Valley battery project was initially enabled through a philanthropic loan linked to the We Have The POWER initiative.
As the offer approaches full subscription, organisers say it demonstrates growing public appetite for shared ownership models in clean energy infrastructure, alongside increasing interest in local, place-based climate action.
