A new report highlights the challenges and opportunities in delivering energy efficiency in rural communities.
It comes as more than a third of households in the Highlands live in fuel poverty according to a recent by environmental charity Changeworks.
The new report produced by Highland Energy Community Partnership (HECP) and titled Installer Experiences in Remote and Rural Communities has found that strengthening local supply chains, improving coordination and making accreditation easier to navigate could help deliver warmer, cheaper-to-run homes.
The partnership was set up to tackle fuel poverty in the Highlands and has received almost £1.5 million from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.
The report begins by looking at the current barriers to home upgrades in remote and rural communities across the Highlands and Islands.
Mhairi MacSween from Changeworks, the lead partner of the HECP, said: “We know from past projects that improving energy efficiency in the Highlands can be challenging.
“So firstly, we wanted to understand exactly what these challenges are, by listening to the local tradespeople and businesses who do the work.
“We were keen to find out what would help businesses and tradespeople feel confident enough to take on more work.
“They had lots of ideas, and these provide a really solid basis for moving forward with energy efficiency upgrades in the Highlands and Islands.
“We’ve now got a clear picture of both the difficulties and opportunities of delivering warmer, cheaper to run homes in the region.”
As a next step, The Highland Energy Community Partnership has organised a launch event for the report at the University of Highlands and Islands on August 12.
This will be a chance for stakeholders to work out how to start putting these solutions into practice.
The report draws on the experiences of the local installers, tradespeople and small businesses who are essential to delivering energy efficiency improvements in remote and rural communities.
The findings highlight how changes such as simpler accreditation routes and better local coordination could help more households access insulation, renewable heating and other upgrades that make homes warmer and cheaper to run.
These changes would unlock a skilled local workforce, able to deliver home energy upgrades at scale, according to the partnership.
More information on the report and access to the launch event is available at www.changeworksinfo.org/supply_chain_report or by emailing marketing@changeworks.org.uk.
