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Scottish communities need obstacles to local energy removed .  

26th January, By Liz Murray, Community Energy Scotland

SINCE locals installed four wind turbines on the Isle of Gigha some years ago, the benefits across the whole community have been huge.

The hundreds of thousands of pounds made from selling their locally generated
electricity to the grid has come directly back into the community and has
been used to help fund housing developments and restorations, business unit
development, moorings and tourism accommodation.

Jane Millar, development
manager of the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust, said: “The turbine income
has been absolutely essential to the success of Gigha. We have grown our
population from 90 to 170; we have been able to build decent housing that
has retained and recruited young families to live here.

“We are now able
to protect and restore the famous Achamore Gardens and our new camping and
motorhome facilities ensure we provide a much better visitor experience
while reducing vehicle traffic and protecting our beautiful island.”

There are other stories like this in Scotland, where local communities own
and control renewable energy developments. Different communities do
different things with the income – that’s what being in control is
about. But the common factor is that the income generated from
community-owned renewables stays in the community, is invested in things
that benefit people across the community – and in many cases is used to
bring in further income.

Research has shown that community-owned wind
provides 34 times more financial benefit to local communities than
privately owned wind farms. And community energy projects also generate
10-fold additional local employment and income impact, over and above the
energy project itself.’

There’s so much potential but there aren’t
nearly enough stories like that of Gigha. For Scotland to have more stories
like Gigha, we urgently need the obstacles to community-owned energy to be
removed, so the benefits of Scotland’s renewable energy revolution can be
more fairly shared.

 The National 26th Jan 2026, https://www.thenational.scot/news/25794945.scottish-communities-need-obstacles-local-energy-removed/

January 29, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable