Community engagement in heat projects Matthew Black Balgair

Community engagement in heat projects Matthew Black

Balgair castle caravan park biomass project • The project provides affordable low carbon heat to 26 residential park homes within the community. • The project is the first of its kind, being the first community renewable district heating project for park homes in the UK. • Supported by DHLF, ECO & Stirling Council • The scheme offers residents at Balgair Castle Caravan Park a 20% reduction in heating costs comparative to their previous expenditure on individual LPG combination boilers. • Furthermore, residents will never have to get their boilers serviced again or arrange for gas deliveries. • Reduces carbon emissions by 150 tonnes • Alleviates fuel poverty • Enhances environmental, economic and social sustainability of a rural community in Scotland • Easily replicated across the UK

Balgair castle caravan park biomass project installed in 2015

Delivery stages • Feasibility: - Scope, technologies and locations • Development: - Technical and financial, mitigating risks, costs, SPV’s, legal, funding, modelling - Costs to householders, communications to householders and the rest of the community, how will the project operate - Managing expectations • Finalising: - Scheduling, H&S, points of contact, communications • Installation: - The plan will change, how is this communicated effectively?

Operation • Billing • Breakdowns - Local or central emergency call outs, leaks, power failures, fuelling issues, back up systems, controls, remote monitoring, performance modelling, weather events, communication issues • Remediation - Monitoring, reviewing and improving performance, control parameters and energy & cost efficiency • Servicing - annual/biannual servicing of systems • Change of home ownership or tenancy

Methods of engagement • Will be specific to each scenario - Newsletters, emails, community meetings, participant meetings, casual conversations • When? - When there is something significant to update the community on and notifications that the project is progressing • During operational phase communication may be more ad hoc with scheme participants. Be prepared for out of hours calls! Unless there is a third party service provider.

Matthew Black matthew@fintrydt. org. uk Questions?