Highland Energy Community Partnership

The Highland Energy Community Partnership (HECP) is a partnership project that aims to overcome barriers to home decarbonisation and fuel poverty alleviation in remote areas of the Scottish Highlands.

We have been awarded almost £1.5 million over five years by the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund, and envision the project will have a lasting impact by:

• Reducing carbon emissions from homes in the project locations
• Making a real difference to people’s quality of life
• Stimulating a more robust retrofit supply chain in the area.

The Partnership is co-ordinated by Changeworks in collaboration with six Highland Community partners.

• Lochbroom and Ullapool Community Trust
• Coigach Community Development Company
• Transition Black Isle
• GALE
• Garve & District
• Contin, Tarvie & Jamestown Projects

All partners will receive Lottery funding to deliver quality home energy improvements and community-scale retrofit.

Aims and objectives of  the partnership

Promoting environmentally friendly energy use

People will be upskilled in energy saving and home retrofit awareness and adopt environmentally friendly energy use behaviours.

Activity to support this aim will be delivered by community-based energy officers through one-to-one and group awareness and advice sessions, which utilise existing community networks and events.

Over five years 20,000 people will engage with the project through websites, newsletters, social media, and group events and 5,400 people will be provided with one-to-one energy advice.

This will lead to an increased number of people understanding how to use energy more effectively and a reduction in carbon emissions due to behaviour change.

Supporting communities to retrofit their homes

Over the five years, 900 households will be empowered and supported to retrofit their homes. They will be supported by the project to identify energy efficient retrofit measures suitable for their homes and be provided with a home retrofit plan.

People will then receive support to navigate and apply for grants and funding schemes to undertake work and to identify and remove any barriers to work taking place.

Households will also be supported with installer liaison during and after any retrofit work. Community Partners will also seek to establish coordinated area-based approaches to retrofit work. Rolling out works across an area will achieve economies of scale, benefitting householders, installers and staff working on the project.

Sharing learning that supports rural retrofit activity beyond project area

Supported by the partnership, the University of the Highlands and Islands, and the Highland Council, Changeworks will build connections across rural communities in Scotland to ensure a scale up of retrofit in rural areas.

Activity will utilise existing networks and connections to share knowledge on how to generate and demonstrate the demand for local installers and how to support householders throughout their retrofit journey. There will be a particular focus on supporting those most vulnerable to the impacts of homes with poor energy efficiency.