Leading Scottish social enterprise Changeworks is developing a new service that will help households in rural Scotland take the next step towards installing solar panels and battery storage.
Launching in the Scottish Highlands in 2027, the service pilot will connect householders with trusted, pre-vetted installers, helping them access competitive quotes and make informed decisions about improving the energy efficiency of their homes.
Changeworks will combine its expertise in domestic retrofit and customer support with Shared Works, a digital platform created by technology company Novoville, to create a simple end-to-end customer journey. The service will support registration, bring households together into purchasing groups and help coordinate the process with installers.
The project aims to address some of the challenges and barriers facing households in rural and remote areas, where access to installers can be limited and the cost and complexity of installing low-carbon technologies significant.
By bringing household demand together geographically, Changeworks will test whether group purchasing can enable more people to take advantage of new technology that can lower energy bills.
Households in Northwest Scotland will have the opportunity to engage with the pilot service initially. Changeworks will work with the Highland Energy Community Partnership to co-design, develop, test and evaluate the approach.
Josiah Lockhart, Chief Executive of Changeworks, said:
“For many people, understanding what improvements they can make to their home is only the first step. The challenge is knowing who to trust and how to turn that advice into action.
“This project gives us an exciting opportunity to create a service that makes that journey simpler and more reassuring. By combining Changeworks’ retrofit and community engagement expertise with Shared Works’ digital technology, we want to give householders greater confidence and make high-quality low-carbon improvements more accessible, particularly in rural communities.”
The project will evaluate household experiences, installer engagement, financial and carbon savings and opportunities for wider adoption. The learning will help explore how the model could be replicated and scaled across other communities and low-carbon technologies.
Louis Daillencourt, Director of Housing and Energy at Novoville, said:
“Novoville is delighted to be working with Changeworks on bringing decarbonised solutions for home energy to the Highlands and Islands. The area has many very skilled individuals and companies, but demand is scattered and it’s hard for professionals to serve it without losing money.
“Novoville has been working on community-driven repair and maintenance for years through its Shared Repairs app for tenement blocks, as well as local-authority led decarbonisation efforts through its award-winning Shared Works platform. Our technology can help aggregate demand and bring more clients to the market. We’re looking forward to showing it during this pilot.”
Funding for the project has been secured via Energy Redress Innovation fund. More information can be found at www.energyredress.org.uk