TV presenter and architectural designer Charlie Luxton visited Ayr this week to see a community-owned solar project in action. The visit marks the start of a roadshow with SP Energy Networks to educate communities across the country on generating and profiting from their own energy.
Community Energy Strategy support
The tour supports the network operator’s new Community Energy Strategy, which aims to help groups across Scotland, England and Wales deliver home-grown power in their neighbourhoods. Over the next year, Luxton will draw on his experience as co-founder of the Hooky Energy Club as he visits fellow community energy projects, spotlighting their positive local impact and signposting support from SP Energy Networks’ dedicated community energy team.
Luxton and the SP Energy Networks team kicked off the tour in Ayr on Wednesday, October 7, visiting the community-owned solar installations delivered by the Fort, Seafield and Wallacetown Community Association in Wallacetown. The project was developed in partnership with South Ayrshire Council and supported by a £216,000 grant from SP Energy Networks’ Transmission Net Zero Fund, as well as funding from the Scottish Government’s Community Energy Generation Growth Fund.
Community benefits and funding
Community-owned solar panels have already been installed on Wallacetown Early Years Centre, St John’s Primary and Newton Primary. Funds from the electricity generated are reinvested directly into the community, with the scheme expected to generate an estimated £1 million over the next 25 years for local projects and services.
Luxton said: “Community energy projects tackle big challenges like fuel poverty and have a huge collective impact for our environment. SP Energy Networks is working hard to make community-powered energy projects a reality right across the country and Wallacetown is a great example. This community has taken control of its own energy and turned it into something that will benefit people for the next 25 years. I can’t wait to get out and meet more groups like this over the coming year, spotlight their great work and help make community energy more accessible to all.”
Support and future plans
Aileen Rourke, District General Manager at SP Energy Networks, said: “There are lots of ways we can help community groups make their energy ambitions a reality. Our dedicated Community Energy team are on hand at every stage, from scoping to stakeholder consultations and connection processes. It can be complicated to navigate how to make this kind of project a reality, so we want to help make that process as easy as possible. We’re excited to have the support of Charlie Luxton as our first Community Energy Champion and for him to help raise the profile of incredible community groups who have made their ideas a reality.”
Alan Roseweir from the Fort, Seafield and Wallacetown Community Association added: “Having Charlie come and see Wallacetown for himself meant a lot to everyone involved in this project. We’ve really benefited from support from SP Energy Networks and together we’ve worked through the challenges of delivering community energy projects for the first time. By sharing learnings from our project, hopefully we’ll inspire other groups to do the same.”
SP Energy Networks’ Community Energy Strategy has been shaped directly by community voices through a recent sector-wide stakeholder survey. It found strong appetite for community energy, with 54 per cent of respondents seeing it as very or extremely important to their community’s future. While nearly 80 per cent of respondents were aware of the support available to them, only 11 per cent had accessed it.
