The full CARES Toolkit is available on the Local Energy Scotland website.

Solar PV context

Project overview

Step 1 – Develop the vision

Information about how to form a new community group is included in the separate Establishing a community group module.

Community group actions plans can be found on the following organisation websites:

Step 2 – Seek advice

Your local development officer is there to support you through the project development process.

The Scottish Government’s Register of Community Benefits provides information to support local communities through the community benefit process. The register publishes the benefits that local communities have received through renewable energy projects.

Local Energy Scotland and other organisations maintain case studies to facilitate the identification of suitable groups to approach to gain their insight.

Step 3 – Communicate

There are a range of guidance documents available for engaging with the community including:

Step 4 – Find a site

Location

There are many maps of solar irradiation available online and guides to help you maximize solar irradiation including:

There will be a number of possible constraints on your project which you will need to identify:

Grid connection

The Grid Connection module should be referred to.

Planning constraints

Scottish Natural Heritage has a web-based mapping tool that will show some of the relevant land designations (see above).

The Planning module provides additional guidance and should also be referred to.

Securing a Site

See step 7.

Step 5 – Initial viability assessment

Web tools can also be used to provide an initial assessment of solar PV project viability eg EU Science Hub.

Systems of up to 50kW need to be installed by an installer certified by the Micro-generation Certification Scheme and accredited installers can are listed on the MCS website.

A number of difference sources can be used to obtain indicative project costs. These include:

  • The CARES Financial Model guidance document provides indicative costs taken from a number of different market studies
  • The Department of Energy & Climate Change publishes annual reports with statistic on approximate solar PV installation cost data for projects up to 50 kW.

Step 6 – Establish a legal entity

The Establishing a community group module contains more information on establishing the legal entity. It is important that legal advice from a solicitor who has experience of completing this work is obtained at this stage. This solicitor will be required at various stages throughout the project to support all legal and contractual activities, of which there will be many.

Step 7 – Secure the site

The Building Society Association has also published advice about the impact of long term lease arrangements for solar PV on any mortgage arrangements.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has produced guidance on the minimum requirements for solar PV lease arrangements.

See the securing a site module for more details and for a set of example draft agreements. If parties do not want to enter an options agreement at this stage, an exclusivity agreement should be considered.

Step 8 – Secure initial funding

The separate Project finance module gives guidance on the types of finance that may be available and potential sources of that finance.

See the Business Planning section of the toolkit for sources of finance for community projects.

Step 9 – Feasibility study

Capital Costs

To support community groups in the delivery of their community projects, Local Energy Scotland has set up a framework of contractors to provide a number of professional services including financial advisors.

You can search for MSC approved installers on the MCS website or on Energy Saving Trust’s Renewable Installer Finder.

Feasibility, design and development invitation to tender. The scope of work outlined in the ITT is comprehensive, however the information is unlikely to account for all project types and variations. It is therefore, the responsibility of those using the forms to ensure the template is tailored to be accurate and representative of the project – see Invitation to Tender templates.

Grid connection

The Grid connection module should be referred to.

Planning constraints

Scottish Natural Heritage has a web-based mapping tool that will show some of the relevant land designations.

The Planning module provides additional guidance and should also be referred to.

Other points

Once it is clear that there is a viable project, it may be prudent to employ a project manager dedicated to developing the project. To support community groups in the delivery of their community projects, Local Energy Scotland has set up a framework of suppliers to provide a number of professional services including project managers.

For larger sites, the detailed feasibility study should include a scoping study to determine whether an Environmental Impact Assessment is required. The Scottish Government has a list of expectations related to the scoping process. The details are related to Formal Applications under Section 36 of The Electricity Act 1989.

Step 10 – Secure project funding

The separate Project finance module gives guidance on the types of finance that may be available and potential sources of that finance.

Local Energy Scotland has sources of finance for community projects.

Step 11 – Financial viability check

A range of financial assessment methods can be used, but the method used by most funders will be a cash flow analysis, covering the long-term costs and income from the project. The CARES Project finance tool can be used at this stage to determine the financial viability of your project.

Step 12 – Applications

The key applications to complete when developing your project are:

If you have employed a project manager or consultant, they will be able to complete this for you.

Step 13 – Procurement

More guidance on procurement issues is provided in the Procurement module.

Step 14 – Financial close

This is a very busy time for the project and it’s important to have the right support in place. To support community groups in the delivery of their community projects, Local Energy Scotland has set up a framework of suppliers to provide a number of professional services including lawyers, financial advisors and project managers.

Step 15 – Construction

Construction, design and management regulations. Further guidance can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.

Step 16 – Community benefit

The Establishing a community group module provides further guidance on dispersing any income generated for the community group.