Verena Aedo, our development officer for the North Isles (Orkney and Shetland islands), attended the All-Energy 2025 Conference in May. She’s written a blog to share what Local Energy Scotland got up to at the conference and highlights some of the key takeaways.
Tuesday 13 May: Community heat, engagement and fuel poverty
Local Energy Scotland organised three sessions on the first day of the conference. These sessions focused on community heat projects, community engagement, shared ownership and reducing fuel poverty.
Session one: Challenges and opportunities in delivering community heat projects
The first session was ‘Challenges and opportunities in delivering community heat projects’ and was chaired by our senior specialist officer Iona Hodge. Dr. Oisín de Priall, senior consultant at Reheat, shared insights from a final report about the Community Heat Development Programme from the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES). The report highlights the need for more funding options and impartial third-party help for community heating projects. The report will be available on our website soon and other useful resources can be found on our website.
Session two: Engaging communities in your renewable energy project
Christina Hinds, our shared ownership specialist, took part in the ‘Engaging communities in your renewable energy project’ session. She explained what help is available for communities through partnerships, independent advice and CARES funding. She also highlighted the importance of having regular and early communication with community groups to build trust. Suzy Mercer, communities fund manager at Foundation Scotland, also presented at the session. She discussed how communities can work together on community benefits and why strong governance is important.
Session three: Reducing fuel poverty through community energy
Mark Brennan, our shared ownership manager, took part in the third session called ‘Reducing fuel poverty through community energy’. He presented with Andrew Brown, renewable heat engineer at Natural Power, and Lynda Mitchell, CEO at ALI energy. They talked about the positive impact of community benefits and shared ownership in reducing fuel poverty and spoke about initiatives, such as the Bodinglee decarbonisation initiative.
You can learn more about community benefits by visiting our community benefits toolkit .
Wednesday 14 May: Collaboration and just transition
Local Energy Scotland organised two conference sessions on the second day of the conference.
Panel one: The collaborative approaches unlocking community owned energy
Emma Shepherd, unit head of public and community energy at the Scottish Government, chaired the panel session. The session highlighted the lessons learnt from successful community owned energy projects and the importance of working together. The expert panel included:
- Andrew Morton, development and delivery team manager at Local Energy Scotland.
- Calum Watkins, director at Glasgow Community Energy.
- Jim Lee, development manager at Energy4All – Dundee Renewable Energy Society.
- Calum Macdonald, development manager at Point Sandwick Trust.
- Darragh Keenaghan, project manager, Community Energy Scotland.
- Fraser Stewart, just transition lead, Regen.
During the session, panel members shared inspiring case studies on different community-owned energy projects. Andrew Morton also announced the launch of the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund from CARES. He also highlighted the support and resources CARES can offer to community groups. The panel also talked about the importance of the role of communities in a just transition, and looked at joint initiatives like the energy learning network.
Panel two: A just transition to net zero from community benefits
The second panel was chaired by Laura Campbell, partnership manager at Local Energy Scotland, and looked at shared ownership and maximising community benefits.
The expert panel included:
- Francesca Vacca, community benefits team lead, Scottish Government.
- Matthew Hannon, professor of sustainable energy business and policy at the University of Strathclyde.
- Rachel Searle, head of communities and impact at Foundation Scotland.
- Robin Winstanley, sustainability and environment director at OnPath Energy.
- Jessica Hogan, project manager at Regen.
- Yvonne Crook, chair and foundation director at Highland Tourism CIC.
The session started with a discussion on the ‘Good practice principles for net zero energy developments’ with a presentation on Rachel Searle and Matthew Hannon’s research study called ‘Guiding principles and actions for enhancing community benefits from community benefit funds’. This was followed by discussions on how community benefits and shared ownership models can put communities at the heart of Scotland’s net zero journey. You can find out more about this by reading ‘Power of places: A vision for local energy in the UK’ on Regen’s website.
An innovative partnership model between Highland Tourism and Highland Renewables was then presented by Yvonne Crook, chair and foundation director at Highland Tourism CIC. This initiative aims to deliver long-term community benefits while protecting the Highlands unique natural and cultural heritage.
The session ended with a closing video message from Mr. Willie Cameron, director at Highland Tourism CIC:
“The Highlands have always risen to the challenge, not by choosing between the past and the future, but by weaving them together. Now is our moment to shape what’s next through dynamic and united action.”
Audience engagement highlights
Throughout the question and answer session, Verena found that the audience asked thoughtful questions and took part in the discussions. Below are some of the topics that came out during the session:
- Challenges in delivering community heat projects: Speakers said that getting communities involved is key to a project’s success. Even though each project is different, engagement is always important to build trust and understand local needs and challenges.
- Role of renewable energy developers: Discussion focused on the importance of shared ownership opportunities to communities, encouraging renewable energy developers to become engaged partners and to get in touch with us to learn more about the support we can offer to communities.
- Making community energy more accessible for tenants and landlords: Solutions such as community membership models and co-operatives were discussed.
- Understanding several community benefit funds: Panellists said having more than one fund open can be complicated, and that better coordination and compromise by stakeholders is needed.
These discussions showed that communities face a wide range of challenges, so support for community energy needs to be flexible and tailored. The panellists called on the , industry and communities to keep working together work together to make real progress towards net zero.
Conclusion
Verena found that the conference inspired people to think creatively and better understand the challenges and solutions to reach net zero.
A key takeaway from the event was: “There is not one answer that fits all”. Working together is key to building strong communities and a sustainable energy future. The conference was a great opportunity for people to meet, share ideas and work together on the current climate and energy challenges. It also highlighted the new research in the energy sector and had inspirational talks.
For those interested in joining us in the transition to net zero, please get in touch and sign up to our monthly newsletter.
You can view the presentations from the All-Energy 2025 conference by visiting their website.