‘Renewable Opportunities (on Common Grazings land)’

Crofters Commission Assessors Seminar , 17th November 2011

Melanie MacRae, North Highland Development Officerhttp://www.communityenergyscotland.org.uk

Scottish Charity Number: SC039673

•1. What are your opportunities•2. What makes a good project•3. Different ways to be involved•4. Top Tips•5. Policy and Support

• Type of project– Reduce energy usage in your house/business– Generate energy for the above

–Generate energy primarily for income generation

• What are your opportunities?– Access to land– Access to large amounts of land– Access to large amounts of windy and wet land– Rights over land

• What makes a renewable energy project/business opportunity?– Land– Resource– Grid– Time - CAPACITY– Money – RISK CAPITAL– Wider community benefit - INVOLVEMENT

LOW HIGH

Land Rental /Access/Way leave

Agreement

Lower Risk (time , money resources)Lower benefits/income

LOW HIGH

Joint Venture (Partnership)

Benefit from partners skillsMore riskMore benefits

LOW HIGH

OwnershipMore riskMore timeMore benefit

• Common Challenges– The Grid– Hard to find finance < £1M– FiT uncertainties – FiT banding

Existing North of Scotland Distribution System –SHEPD © 2009 Alec Morrison SHEPD

• Policy support– Government RE Route Map to

2020– 500MW by 2020– community and locally owned

renewable energy

Otherwise no FiT's !

• What sort of work does the scheme cover?– Feasibility studies and surveys– Resource monitoring– Environmental surveys– Design work– Pre planning technical work– How do you apply and who do you speak to?

• Where are they?

• We are Scotland’s community energy charity.

• We offer independent advice and support

• Generate, Reduce, Substitute• We are a membership

organisation made up of community groups

• TOP TIPS– VEHICLE is IMPORTANT Sets you up earlier for

commercial liability which you will later incur– Think about the skills you don't have as well as those

you do– Schemes are worth something in various stages of

development– Finance think laterally

• Summary– Land is an asset– Wet and Windy land is an even better one!– Many ways to be involved and benefit– Rental, Joint Venture Partnership or Full Ownership– Policy support is there for local ownership and generation– There are issues that you will come up against but there

are others out there who are experiencing similar– (Ps you could also plant trees for woodfuel)

Larger-scale wind / hydro TOTAL TOTAL

No. projects No. MW

Western Isles 21 33.70

North Highland 14 11.07

Argyll 20 45.57

Orkney Islands 11 10.50Lochaber, Skye & Lochalsh 8 3.40

Shetland Islands 8 8.39

East Highland & Moray 5 3.15Aberdeen, Dundee & Angus 3 1.96

TOTAL 90 117.7

100% Planning success rate

Thanks for listening!