Residents of this Scottish island are taking control of its energy future

Going for a walk on a Scottish island often involves battling with the wind. But the residents of Gigha now have reason to celebrate when a brisk breeze blows. In fact, by taking a short walk up a hill they get a sense of how their community-owned turbines are harnessing the power of the wind to make money for local projects. A four-foot plinth with illuminated yellow digits spells out the money being made with each turn of the blades. And the rewards are quite considerable.

Fergus Waters is CEO of Gigha Heritage Trust. “Since the residents of Gigha purchased the island 15 years ago, we have benefited from a sense of self-determination,” he says. “We are no longer exposed to the fickle nature of markets or the whims of an individual landowner. The wind farm brings money directly into the community and allows us to invest in our future.”

So far Gigha has spent money building new homes and improving housing stock. The population has grown from 90 people to around 170. So the school is thriving and local people are able to pull together to run a farm, a shop and a hotel.

Throughout Scotland there are around 500 schemes that generate power and cash for the good of locals, and it’s being done in ever more imaginative ways. Ian Garman is innovations officer for Community Energy Scotland (CES) and has a vision for the Orkney island of Eday.

Illustration: Getty

“Energy is generated from the community-owned wind turbine and then some of it is used to extract hydrogen from water,” he says. “The hydrogen is presently shipped to Kirkwall harbour on mainland Orkney but I look forward to the day when Eday is served by a ferry fuelled entirely by hydrogen. Then the ship could simply fill up on fuel when she puts into port.”

CES has a simple aim. Garman says: “We help communities to find ways to generate income through energy generation and to find ways to reduce their energy outgoings. For fragile rural communities, the money allows people to stay in an area they might otherwise have to leave, and it attracts incomers who then keep schools viable.”

We are no longer exposed to the fickle nature of markets or the whims of an individual landowner

Getting these schemes off the ground is no simple matter. In Applecross in the northwest Highlands, a community hydro scheme called Apple Juice finally came on stream in December 2015 – seven years after the project was first mooted.

There is no shortage of ideas about how the income, expected to be around £30,000 a year, could be spent but local development officer Alison Macleod sounds a note of caution. “We plan to create some sheltered housing and to set up transport schemes but we do not want to find ourselves in the position where the council or government seizes it as an opportunity to walk away from their responsibility,” she says.

Further up the coast in Ullapool, Tim Gauntlett, chairman of Broom Power, knows all about the work involved in setting up a local energy scheme.

He says: “We needed to raise £900,000 in share issues by the end of August 2016, and with just three weeks to go we still had £300,000 to raise. The community put us through hell and we only just made it.”

Getting the funds together was only one of the challenges – navigating through reams of red tape tested their skills and patience. Gauntlett says: “We had to jump through so many legal hoops in order to achieve something that on paper appears so simple.”

Things are changing on the community energy front in Scotland, though. The Scottish Government surpassed its target and has now set a more ambitious one. However, energy is not a devolved issue and after Westminster axed feed-in tariffs, people no longer receive cash just for producing green power, though they can still sell electricity to the grid.

One thing is clear – the benefits these schemes bring extend beyond the financial. Gauntlett puts it this way: “One of the things that we have demonstrated is that we can organise ourselves and be persistent – and we can be relied upon to deliver what we set out to deliver. And that is empowering for everyone.”