The local heroes planning to turn Highland town on to green energy
IT sounds like the plot of a movie, but it is all playing out for real in the Highlands as the people of Ullapool find themselves facing the mammoth task of raising a cool £1 million in order to turn the town green when it comes to the energy they use.
The people of the Highland town have just days left to raise the money they need to fund the pioneering hydro-electric scheme, to be owned and run by the local community.
Profits from the proposed Broom- Power plant on a river near Ullapool will be ploughed back into community projects, while shareholders are also promised a four per cent rate of return.
By 3pm yesterday afternoon, backers had raised more than £800,000 towards their target, which has to be reached by August 31. They spent the day on the streets of Ullapool leafleting in the hope of turning “this fantastic opportunity into a reality”.
Sarah Donald from BroomPower said: “Investing in the scheme doesn’t just help the community, it supports Scotland’s move towards renewable energy and makes sound financial sense too.”
BroomPower is registered as a community benefit society, which means profits must be used to help local people. It is owned by its members.
The plan is to install a generator powered by Allt a’Mhuilinn burn south of Ullapool. It will be a low-impact “runof-river” scheme, using the steepness of the hillside to produce 100 kilowatts of green electricity.
This is the river where Scotland’s very first hydro-electric scheme is thought to have been sited.
It was run in the late 1890s by Sir John Fowler, a civil engineer famous for his work on the London Underground and the Forth Bridge.
One of those involved is Jason Leon, a 49-year-old energy consultant based in Ullapool and Edinburgh. “Why wouldn’t you invest in a community hydro scheme?” he said. “It’s great to think your money can be doing some good. We have some of the best rain and mountains for it to run down in the world.”
The team looking after the project was very experienced, he added. “I feel, in this day and age, our savings invested in BroomPower shares and earning four per cent per annum could not be in a better place.”
The scheme has been welcomed by environmentalists.
“The BroomPower is a great example of how communities and ordinary folk can benefit from our much-needed transition to renewable energy,” said Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
“If all goes well shareholders will receive financial return with an ownership structure that means they also get to have a say in the running of the scheme.”
In its manifesto for the last election, the SNP promised to ensure by 2020 at least half of all new renewable projects would have an element of shared ownership.
There are already 400-plus community or locally-owned projects generating more than 500 megawatts of electricity.
Dixon added: “Community-owned renewable energy is a big success story in Scotland and helps deliver community empowerment and boost local economies, as well as reducing climate emissions.”