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April 23, 2024
State of the Sector survey
How well placed are Scotland’s communities to benefit both collectively and individually from the opportunities emerging out of the fast expanding renewables sector? To establish some baseline data on the scale of community energy at present and to scope out the level of potential interest from communities not currently involved in the sector, a major survey is being coordinated by Community Energy Scotland. So, even if you are not currently active in the market but might like to be in the future, this survey is for you. Deadline has been extended until 6th May.
State of the Sector 2024 is now open for submissions via our new online data portal. We are asking all community energy organisations in Scotland to provide their data to help quantify and further develop our understanding of the sector.
Please find a link to the portal here: https://sots.communityenergyscotland.org.uk/
Who should take part?
The survey is aimed at community energy organisations involved in low carbon activities across the UK. This includes electricity and heat generation, energy storage, low carbon transport, energy efficiency, demand management, fuel poverty work and other low carbon initiatives.
The data from the report will feed into the ongoing work of Community Energy Scotland, supporting and aiding communities to develop their own low carbon energy projects. So that it is as impactful as possible, we need to gather data from as many organisations working in the sector as possible.
Having access to data on the sector is vital for all community energy organisations, stakeholders, and policy makers to understand and communicate about the sector, encourage investment, and bring about supportive policies.
Previous Scotland SotS data has been cited by Holyrood officials and is recognised in the wider energy sector, amplifying the voice of community energy at decision-making levels.
Login Information
- If you have already provided us with data in past surveys, an account has already been set up for your organisation linked to the email address used to submit the most recent survey. You just need to go to our portal here: https://sots.communityenergyscotland.org.uk/user/login and select ‘forgotten your password’ to create a new password for your account.
- If your organisation has not responded to State of the Sector before: The first user from a community energy organisation will need to email sots@communityenergyscotland.org.uk and we will grant appropriate access. Once you have access, users can add other people associated with their organisation by inviting them via their email address – click on your organisation, then “Members”, then “+ Invite Members”. These users can also add subsequent users.
- If you do not know whether your organisation has or has not provided data previously, please email sots@communityenergyscotland.org.uk and we will give appropriate next steps.
Next Steps
If you are part of a community energy organisation, please proceed to add your organisation’s data to the portal. The window for submissions for will close on 6th May.
The portal will remain open for users to view/update data and add new sites throughout the year.
If you are not part of a community energy organisation, please spread the word so everyone in the sector hears about this year’s survey and research.
What will be the research outputs be in 2024?
We are currently working with our partners at Community Energy Wales and Community Energy England to plan the 2024 research outputs.
All outputs will be released in late Q2 2024, once all the data submitted to the survey has been collated and analysed.
If you have any ideas for additional SOTS outputs that would help your community energy organisation, please get in touch with us at: sots@communityenergyscotland.org.uk
We are pleased to announce that State of the Sector 2024 is sponsored by SP Energy Networks