Carbon Neutral Islands: financing roadmap

Finance Requirement

To date, the islands have led on initiatives primarily using funding allocations from the Scottish Government, although in numerous cases they have also sought additional funding, most frequently through alternative public sector funding sources. This Roadmap serves as a starting point in developing a pipeline of initiatives with a proactive approach to diversifying funding resources.

Recognising that large-scale capital projects require significant planning and development, this pipeline will allow the CNI project to take a phased approach. This enables planning and delivery to span multiple financial years, ensuring relevant stakeholders and necessary funding are secured for each project phase.

Projected Capital Expenditure

The remainder of this Roadmap outlines the expected demand for capital funding, at an island level, for the forthcoming years. Each island has developed candidate projects with associated capital costs based on current financial modelling therefore these costs should be considered indicative and may be subject to change. It is important to note that the development and delivery of capital projects requires dedicated resource which at present continues to be provided by Scottish Government to the Local Anchor Organisations.

Future Capital Projects

There are currently 50 projects in active development across the islands. These vary in impact, scale and timelines but represent an ambitious plan for the project’s future. The projects have been summarised below with further detail provided by each of the island’s Community Development Officers in their relevant annex.

For the purposes of project-wide management, and to provide a basis for cost estimation where accurate project costs are not yet available, the following project categorisation is used:

The funding required (by category for each initiative) across the forthcoming years of the project are included in the table below. Projects which cover multiple years have been included based on their starting years. As a result there will be many more initiatives being undertaken in the later years than this table shows:

The table below shows the candidate projects, with associated capital categorisation and target delivery year:

Barra

• Craigston Schoolhouse – D, 26/27
• Vatersay Hall – E, 25/26
• Northbay Hall – H, 25/26
• Energy Local Club – H, 25/26
• Uist Barra Micro-Grid – A, 26/27+

Cumbrae

• Millport 130 – C, 25/26-27/28
• FSC Millport – G, 25/26
• Fintry Bay Woodland – H, 25/26
• Garrison House Solar PV and Battery Install – H, 25/26
• Millport Shared Roof Solar PV Pilot – G, 25/26
• District Heat – B, 27/28-30/31
• Community Energy – B, 27/28-30/31
• Cumbrae Woodland Growth – G, 25/26-29/30

Islay

• Community Buildings Phase 1 – E, 25/26
• Increasing EV Capacity – H, 25/26
• Community Food Forest Project – Phase 2 – F, 25/26
• New Build Eco Cluster – District Heating Demo – Phase 1 – C, 25/26
• Community Building Phase 2 – Small Scale Wind Turbine – F, 25/26
• Decarbonisation of Large Road Vehicles – F, 25/26
• Community Food Forest Project – Phase 3 – F, 25/26
• Reforestation Project – G, 26/27
• Biochar Trial – Phase 1 – D, 26/27
• Domestic Solar Expansion – E, 26/27
• Replacement of Non-Native Sitka – D, 26/27
• Peatland Restoration – Carbon Lock-in – H, 26/27
• New Build Eco House Cluster – Phase 2 – C, 26/27
• Expansion of Solar Array – E, 27/28
• Large-Scale Biochar – Phase 2 – E, 26/27
• Vertical Farming Project– C, 27/28
• Large-Scale District Heating Systems Development – D, 27/28

Raasay

• Inverarish Housing – C, 25/26
• Habitat Restoration – E, 25/26-28/29
• Glasshouse Restoration – E, 25/26
• Raasay House Heating – D, 25/26
• Footpath Development – H, 25/26
• Renewable Energy Development – TBC, 25/26
• Peatland Restoration – RDEL, 25/26-28/29
• Rainforest Restoration – H, 25/26+
• Community Transport – H, 25/26

Hoy

• Collective Retrofit – C, 26/27-30/31
• Hoy Heritage Centre Retrofit and Restoration Project – G, 25/26
• Longhope Lifeboat Museum – H, 25/26 – 28/29
• YM Hall Retrofit – F, 25/26
• Re-Use Hub – F, 26/27
• Green Community Transport – G, 26/27,27/28
• Peatland Restoration – H, 26/27
• Community Housing – E, 25/26-30/31
• Community Woodland and Green Space – F, 25/26-27/28
• Renewable Energy, – A/B, 26/27