Alienergy
Argyll and Bute Council · 21 October 2024
Back to Argyll and Bute Windfarm and Renewables Trust — 21 October 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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ALIenergy Overview 2023/24 Argyll, Lomond and the Islands Energy Agency (ALIenergy) is a sustainable energy charity based in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. ALIenergy currently has a team of 16, working on a range of projects in Affordable Warmth/Alleviation of Fuel Poverty; Education and Skills Development; and Local Energy. ALIenergy’s aims are: - To help people with fuel poverty and energy efficiency issues - To encourage community renewables and local energy economy - To reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. Affordable Warmth Advice Service - Over the year 2023/24, funders have included Energy Redress Scheme, Robertson Trust, Argyll & Bute Council, Highland Council, Bank of Scotland, Smart Energy GB, Big Energy Saving Network, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Energy Action Scotland / William Grant Foundation, SGN Safe and Warm Fund, Scottish Government’s Investing in Communities Fund, Argyll & Bute Community Led Local Development Fund, SSE Renewables (Tangy), various donations. Our service offers a range of energy advice topics to raise awareness, increase resilience and reduce the risk of fuel poverty going forwards, alongside crisis interventions, referrals for insulation and heating replacement schemes, support with complex issues and dealing with energy companies and the ombudsman. We offer a mix of home visits, face-to-face advice at events and telephone sessions. Our clients are typically vulnerable to fuel poverty for reasons such as low income, poor health or disability, and reliance on high-cost heating. Many have no access to gas, often using electric storage heaters on expensive electric tariffs. Many are self-restricting or in debt to suppliers. Many suffer from physical or mental health difficulties caused by, or made worse by, living in cold damp homes. We also deliver free training events, for frontline workers that support vulnerable or disadvantaged people, to help them to recognise and refer fuel-poor households. This is an extremely effective way for us to engage with hard-to-reach individuals who may otherwise be reluctant to ask for help for a variety of reasons. We continue to access crisis payments for clients from various sources. These include: prepayment meter vouchers and bulk fuel deliveries from the Fuel Bank Foundation; energy debt relief and ongoing cost payments from the Scottish Government Home Heating Support Fund; free appliances (cookers fridges, freezers, washing machines) from the Glasspool Trust; and we are a partner in the Argyll & Bute Flexible Food Fund which provides cash interventions alongside money advice (from Bute Advice Centre) and energy advice from ourselves. We continue to prioritise urgent cases, and
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aim to provide rapid financial assistance and crisis interventions wherever needed – alongside providing the advice and referrals to address longer term resilience to fuel poverty. During the FY 2023-24 we supported over 2500 households, accessed crisis grants of over £650,000, plus estimated gains arising from advice given adding up to at least as much again, adding up to a total estimated client gain of between £1.2 - £1.5 million, directly to households who needed it most. Among all the factors which make fuel poverty so serious here, particularly crucial is the lack of access to mains gas across much of the area. Electric heating can be 3-4 times as expensive per kWh than gas. We also have cold wet weather, energy inefficient housing, elderly demographics, and typically low average incomes. Whilst energy process have dropped slightly since the peak of the energy price crisis, fuel poverty is still thought to affect nearly one in two households across rural northwest Scotland. ALIenergy Affordable Warmth Advice Process Community Energy for Energy Solidarity (CEES), funded by Horizon 2020. Working with 10 partners from Portugal, France, Belgium, Croatia and UK, this 3-year European project identified, compared and analysed successful community energy initiatives to tackle fuel poverty in different countries, and created a toolkit for replication, the Energy Solidarity Toolkit, designed to assist the setup of new affordable warmth services across the UK and Europe. The project is recently completed and the project website contains a wealth of information, at www.energysolidarity.eu Consumer Comfort Choice (funded by Scottish Government CARES, and Centrica’s Energy for Tomorrow grant. Across much of rural Scotland, mains gas is unavailable, and many households use electric storage heaters, which can be difficult to control and expensive to run – contributing to the issue of fuel poverty. Charging may be controlled via smart control technology, providing greater comfort and control, less energy waste and reduced costs. Working with technical partner Connected Response, we are installing smart controls in households with storage heaters in Oban and monitoring the resulting improvements in energy bills and household comfort.
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ALIenergy's Education and Skills Development Programme Funded by Scottish Power Renewables, Beinn an Tuirc Community Benefit Fund 'Regional Tranche'. This local economic development project encourages and facilitates young people to pursue local careers in STEM subjects and the renewable energy sector, providing events, workshops and careers advice in schools and communities, particularly in the areas of Mid Argyll and Kintyre. The project makes first contact with young people during their transition from P7 to S1 and S2, with energy and climate change-related activities and workshops, careers events, and stands for the whole community at the main Agricultural Shows in the area.
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During the summer of 2024 we attended the Kintyre, Mid Argyll and Islay Shows. Classroom workshops took place in the high schools in Tarbert on 4th September, Lochgilphead on 17th & 19th September, and Campbeltown on 25th September. The workshops were delivered to all S1 students in each school and looked at the importance of STEM in responding to increasing energy demand and supply. Students took part in a practical challenge generating electricity using wind, solar and hydro power kits. Report from STARS-24 event by Suzy Jevons, ALIenergy Education Officer We ran 3 workshops engaging directly with 75 students from 6 different primary schools. The students got stuck in with the construction of the Mars Rovers and trying to get them moving over the rocky surfaces. We think this could be an excellent activity to take into schools to give students more time and to try to develop the solar power aspect more. The students enjoyed racing the solar vehicles we took as demos. Then in the "Expo" we were able to engage with all of the attendees, which totalled 250 students. Had some great chats with students who had not been in the workshops, discussing their love of science and what they would like to do in the future. We were also able to discuss future workshops with the teachers in attendance who would love for us to be in school with the students to get the students excited about STEM. We also had chats with other attendees like SSE and Orbex about getting them involved in any future careers event we plan (MAK STEM Fest 2). Katie was there too (despite being still officially on maternity leave), so we were able to be a team in the field! We also met the Councillor in charge of Education at the Council and she wants to support us with our work going forward, she knows the two councillors who are linked to ALIenergy as well, so was really enthusiastic about helping it all continue to grow.