28/04/2026
The Rural Energy Hubs project, based in Orkney and Shetland, developed a replicable model for a genuinely place-based, community-led approach to overcoming non-technical barriers and accelerating decarbonisation in rural and island communities. The purpose of the Hubs is to help individuals, businesses and communities to reduce their carbon emissions and their energy bills. The project was funded by Innovate UK and has built on learning from previous innovation projects such as ReFLEX Orkney and Heat Smart Orkney. The project partners were Aquatera, Community Energy Scotland, EMEC, Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council.
The project team established the pilot Rural Energy Hub in Brae, Shetland, and trialled a broad range of services, technologies and facilities that could be incorporated into a Hub, ranging from building retrofit, community transport and energy monitoring, to trials of an electric bin lorry, bus, heavy lift drone and Hydrogen Combined Heat and Power unit at Kirkwall airport. The team developed a Replication Framework that provides a step-by-step process for developing and delivering future Rural Energy Hubs.
Anna Marriot, Senior Consultant Aquatera and Lead Project Manager of the Rural Energy Hubs Project will give an overview of the concept of Rural Energy Hubs, the pilot set up in Brae and the services trialled, examining how the Project has built on previous learnings and discussing how developing a network of Hubs could support rural decarbonisation in new locations.
Tea & coffee available from 6.45pm. The event is free to OREF members, £5 for non-members. Contact [email protected] for zoom details.
