Green energy park under discussion

On Tuesday, Loreburn Housing Association in Dumfries hosted an event offering prospective stakeholders a chance to discuss plans for a project which would benefit local communities.
Green energy advocate Roland Chaplain has been helping to drive forward the project, and reflecting on the meeting he said: “I’m absolutely delighted with it.
“It was just such an interesting exchange. We were so lucky to get three of the senior people from Scottish Power Energy Networks along.
“I feel we’ve got a great working relationship in the making with them.”
He added: “They want to work with us, and if we can come up with alternate solutions that involve energy storage, I think they’re going to be very receptive.”
Plans for the former nuclear site at Chapelcross include a green energy storage and generation system, taking advantage of the location’s existing connectivity.
Other plans include facilities for community and education projects, and construction of wind turbines providing revenue for local communities.
And the wider purpose of the proposed project would be to provide ‘proof of concept’ enabling communities elsewhere to replicate lessons learned at Chapelcross.
Lorraine Usher and Andy Todman, of Loreburn, served as hosts of the event, which also featured a presentation by Madeline Crawford of Local Energy Scotland on CARES funding, from Wullie Findlay of Moorside NucleUS SCIO on opportunities for a major visitor centre and educational attraction, and from Duncan Cameron of L3D International on ways for communities to access technologies at most attractive rates possible.
Mr Chaplain said: “It’s a long haul this, but what this has really helped cement is the extent of the interest from a variety of communities in our local area.”