Jobs in Selkirkshire, Scottish Borders

Selkirk Regeneration (SR) is a community charitable organisation with a broad remit to support the social, economic and environmental prosperity of Selkirk and its environs (TD7 postcode area). We have several well-established projects including developing a Local Place Plan with the community, delivery of the

Sustainable Borders energy advice service and managing a community pop-up shop in Selkirk High Street. We have investigated options for various community-owned renewable energy projects, including wind, solar and hydro, and most recently have led a feasibility study into a Local Energy Club as the most viable project in current circumstances. Selkirk Local Energy Club

The Selkirk Local Energy Club is a proposed community-led pilot that aims to help Selkirk make better use of renewable electricity generated locally. The club will use both domestic and business rooftop solar electricity generation to supply electricity to local households and businesses and community buildings on a local electricity tariff.

In simple terms, the model links local renewable generators with local households, businesses and community buildings that use electricity. The electricity still flows through the national energy grid, so members do not need a new physical connection to the generator. Instead, the Local Energy Club uses a commercial and billing arrangement to match local generation with local demand. When local renewable electricity is generated and used by participating members, members benefit from lower energy bills, while generators can receive a fairer return than standard export arrangements.

With external independent technical support, we have examined the feasibility of the project and developed a business plan; both demonstrate that this can be a realisable and viable scheme. Our next step is to establish a pilot scheme to convert this exciting vision into reality. We believe this will be the first distributed rooftop solar energy scheme in the Scottish Borders and will create a model that can be widely replicated by other communities.

The pilot will focus on moving from feasibility into live operation. This will involve commencing supply to participating members and monitoring the model over an initial 6-12 month period. The pilot will capture data on local electricity matching rates, bill savings, generator revenues, export performance, administrative costs and operational learning.

This evidence will be used to confirm that the Local Energy Club is technically, commercially and administratively viable, and whether it could be scaled up to include more members, more generators and wider community benefit activity in future.