ParkPower: Green Energy from Scotland’s Green Spaces

Locogen is delighted to be working with greenspace scotland on the innovative ParkPower programme. It aims to transform Scotland’s parks from expensive overheads into valuable green energy assets, driving Scotland towards a net-zero carbon future.

This project is jointly funded by Local Energy Scotland and its partners, Falkirk Council, Falkirk Community Trust and North Lanarkshire Council, to explore the feasibility of five greenspace sites.   In the first phase of the project Locogen will work with delivery partners, Bizcat and Town Rock Energy, to assess their green energy resource potential.

These spaces offer unique opportunities to our communities as a result of their extensive land area together with natural resources such as water bodies and trees, close to our urban areas.  This makes them ideal sites for a range of renewable energy and low carbon heat solutions, where having adjacent ‘off-takers’ for power and, in particular, heat can dramatically improve the viability of such projects.

Technologies being considered will include solar PV, ground source and air source heat pumps, EV charging with solar canopies, micro hydro and district heating networks supplied from boreholes, flooded mines and water treatment works.

These greenspace local energy hubs will become a key component in a council’s Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), contribute to Local Energy Masterplanning and, ultimately, help Scotland reach its net-zero carbon target.

“Green islands of energy opportunity”

Locogen consultancy director, David Linsley-Hood, says: “We’re really excited to be involved in the ParkPower project. Our greenspaces can be seen as islands of energy opportunities within seas of energy demand. Parks are expensive to run but ParkPower can transform them from being seen as an overhead to an asset.”

John Maslen, ParkPower Project Manager, comments: “Our energy system transformation over coming years is going to have a direct impact on our urban landscapes. New infrastructure like substations, pipes, batteries, energy centres and EV charging stations will be required to reinforce our power networks, heat our buildings and charge our vehicles. For decades urban greenspaces have taken on a role as unassuming hosts for this infrastructure.  This role is set to become much higher profile.”

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