In May, Scene facilitated an entertaining and engaging ‘6 hats workshop’ on the island of Iona.
A new film, The Solar Fix, produced by the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh based social enterprise Scene shows the scale of the challenge. The Solar Fix journeys into three villages in the Indian state of Odisha, where over 200,000 solar systems have been installed by governments and international NGOs since 2009.
In collaboration with Coventry University, Scene are conducting a longitudinal study of community renewable energy in Scotland. The project is hiring a temporary research intern to aid in the organisation, management and surveying of community groups across Scotland.
A fully funded scholarship for a PhD research on digital finance and sustainable energy in India is being offered in International Development at the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with Scene – an Edinburgh based social enterprise that specialise in community energy and ICT.
At Scene we are innovating to try and find solutions to one of these issues; lack of human capacity and effective supply chains for after-sales and maintenance, through our project in India, Urjaa Samadhan. Building on Urjaa Samadhan, we are now looking to work on the issue of access to credit for end-users and small developers, through enabling the ESCo model, with Chile as a pilot location.
Just because we can’t stop the rain, that doesn’t mean we can’t stop homes and businesses from flooding. The real problem is not the rain, but where the water goes after it comes out of the sky. With SEPA publishing new guidance on natural flood management measures "for local authorities and landowners", now is the time for communities to engage so that protection measures are put in place which can help prevent flooding in the future, and deliver wider environmental benefits.
Minutes after landing in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, we were off; our aim was to bring all of our planning and design of the Urjaa Samadhan system into implementation within a two week period. Myself and Anna, representing Scene, knew it was going to be an extremely busy trip from the get go, nonetheless, the trip was extremely fruitful. We are now confident in our project’s prospects for helping efficient after-sales repair of off-grid solar in India.
Scene associate, Alex Schlicke, discusses a recent site visit to a geothermal district heating scheme in Shettleston, Glasgow. Concieved in 1997, now supplying 17 residences with low cost, low carbon heating, Glenalmond Street represents one of the earliest attempts at harnessing minewater for heat.
The last four months has seen wave after wave of policy attack against the renewable energy industry. At the end of October industry bodies were hastily gathering evidence in support of keeping the feed-in tariff (FiT), and just days later the treasury announced that tax relief incentives will no longer apply to energy projects. For this reason renewables enthusiasts cannot be blamed for looking for something to raise their spirits.
The sun appeared to break through the gloom for a moment a few weeks ago when the Scottish Government announced that it has reached its 500MW target for ‘community and locally owned energy’, five years ahead of schedule. The announcement was lapped up by press and practitioners alike, who claimed ‘Scotland smashes community energy target’.
An innovative way to energy transition? Some thoughts on local authorities’ involvement in ESCos
Conducting research into Community led Energy Service Companies (ESCos), Scene intern - Yu Song - provides some thoughts on the ESCo model and role of Local Authorities in their development.