Technologies: thermal and battery storge, air source heat pumps
Location: Aberdeenshire
CARES funding: £84,875.50 capital grant
Alford and District Men’s Shed (ADMS) is a community building in rural Aberdeenshire. The building is used widely by the community and has workshops, and meeting and catering spaces for hire.
Formerly an old technical college building owned by Aberdeenshire Council, ADMS bought the building in 2018 as part of a community asset transfer. After taking ownership, the ADMS worked to refurbish the 1970s building and improve its energy efficiency rating – for example, by improving the building’s insulation, windows and roof.
ADMS wanted to install a whole energy system powered by renewable energy to minimise the building’s carbon footprint. ADMS applied to the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) in January 2019 and received £14,820 for technical assistance for an options appraisal, design specification and procurement to identify the best options.
CARES development officers supported members of ADMS to install solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in March 2020, before the closure of the Feed-in Tariff. Members were also supported with the design and tendering work involved to install a fully integrated energy system that would include solar PV panels, air source heat pumps, a thermal store, batteries and controls. This work was made possible with a CARES capital grant of £84,875 and work was completed in March 2023, with some snagging issues sorted afterwards to improve performance.
The new system – which ADMS fondly calls IRENE (Integrated Renewable Energy Networked Equipment) – enables the members to maximise the on-site use of the energy generated by the solar PV panels and to optimise the use of each component. Integrated whole energy systems are still quite novel and it’s encouraging to see a community leading the way with this project.
Watch the video to find out more about ADMS and its energy system.