Be part of our next clean energy project: Common Lot Solar and Battery Park
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Beth McAllister
We’re delighted to announce that Low Carbon Hub has secured the rights to a new solar and battery park: Common Lot, near Yarnton in Oxfordshire. Our Community Energy Fund share offer is now open to help build it.
Common Lot Solar and Battery Park
Common Lot will be a 7.4 MW solar park with 10 MWh of battery storage. Once running, it will generate around 7.9 GWh of clean electricity a year, enough to power more than 3,000 homes and save around 1,000 tonnes of carbon annually. It is estimated to generate £6.3 million of community benefit over the project’s 42-year lifetime. Construction is due to start in spring 2027.
Solar and battery, together from the start
As far as we know, Common Lot is the first community-owned solar site where the solar and battery have been designed and delivered together from day one. Alongside bifacial ground-mounted solar panels, the site will have a 2 MW battery import connection.
The battery will store surplus solar power and release it when it’s needed most. It can also take power from the grid when it’s cheap and plentiful, and export it in the evening when demand is higher. That means more clean energy gets used, the local grid becomes more resilient, and the park earns more income to fund community benefit.
Good for nature too
The site is low-grade agricultural land next to Yarnton industrial estate, bordered by the A44 and the Cherwell railway line, and is not currently farmed. We’ll be working to enhance biodiversity at the site, similar to what we’ve done with our existing ground-mount project, Ray Valley Solar. This may include planting native hedgerows, borders and a wildflower meadow, and adding bird and bat boxes and beehives.
Common Lot represents a brilliant opportunity to get involved in community-owned energy. While there are lots of new solar parks being developed in Oxfordshire, we do things differently, with community at the heart of everything. Our clean energy projects are owned by the community with 100% of our profits funding other community benefit activities.
Dr Barbara Hammond MBE, CEO, Low Carbon Hub
About the Community Energy Fund
The Community Energy Fund is your opportunity to invest in a clean energy future. We use the money invested to build new renewable energy projects, including Common Lot. Our projects generate clean electricity and cut carbon emissions. They also create ongoing community benefit funding, which helps homes, businesses and schools cut their energy use, supports community-led climate action and helps the clean energy transition.
How to invest
We’re aiming to raise at least £500,000 through the Community Energy Fund, with a target return of 5% for investors. People and organisations can invest from £100 up to £100,000 through the impact investing platform Ethex. The offer is open until 5 February 2027.
Common Lot will join our portfolio of 55 community-owned renewable energy projects, including Ray Valley Solar, one of the UK’s largest community-owned solar parks, where we are now adding battery storage thanks to funding from our investor members.
The project was catalysed by a philanthropic loan through the We Have The POWER project.
Important: Please read the share offer document in full before investing, and seek independent financial advice if you’re unsure. Capital is at risk and returns are not guaranteed.