ParkPower are inviting SSN member organisations to register interest in their project proposal, Green Heat in Greenspaces.
While ParkPower recognises that operational priorities may lie elsewhere at this time, they are raising awareness of their new project, Green Heat in Green Spaces, a part of the wider ParkPower Programme. The proposal builds on the momentum gained over the last year including from the well attended ParkPower Conference in February 2020. Where possible ParkPower are keen to maintain this momentum whilst acknowledging the challenging operating conditions.
To date only 5 local authorities have been formally involved in ParkPower projects although many others have made valuable contributions. This project offers the opportunity for others to become more formally involved. Feedback from many public bodies expressed their interest in exploring the potential of their greenspace portfolios for green energy solutions. Discussions often focus on creating prioritised site reports specific to an organisation’s territory highlighting the strongest opportunities, in particular for low carbon heat generation. Outputs from this work would allow officers to (1) identify target sites for pioneer projects where progress can be made through a standard phased process and (2) provide evidence to feed directly into strategy development – in the case of local authorities into Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) and Open Space Strategies.
Last week ParkPower submitted a funding bid to the MCS Foundation for a 9 month project they're calling GHiGs (‘Green Heat in Greenspaces’). They aim to start this in early June 2020 to be complete by February 2021. A decision on whether the bid has been successful is expected on 20th May 2020 by which time they hope to have a more formal consortium of partners in place. GHiGs would be led and managed by greenspace scotland on behalf of a group of public and third sector bodies and utilise an industry-leading technical partner. This is the contractual arrangement that has been used successfully for all ParkPower projects to date. The MCS maximum funding limit is £50,000 and we are bidding to raise approximately this amount alongside match funding from ‘core partners’. They anticipate creating a pool of 10 or more core partners each contributing approximately £5,000.
GHiGs is not dependent on site visits or face-to-face meetings. As such it can progress and, if necessary, be delivered under the current home working arrangements.
It is anticipated there would be two categories of project partner:
- Core partners – local authorities or other public bodies with greenspace portfolios. They would be fully involved in the project, receive access to all outputs including a custom report for their area, and would contribute match funds.
- Advisory partners – these organisations would be invited to relevant workshops and presentations and kept up to speed on all developments. There would be no expectation of contributing funds and they would receive access to generic outputs.
A summary of the project proposal is detailed in the attached PDF document.
Update from John Maslen, ParkPower Project Manager.
After contacting attendees of our ParkPower Conference last week I currently have 7 Local Authorities with formal expressions of interest, 4 more authorities considering their involvement, plus others including NHS Scotland centrally, Strathclyde University, Ordnance Survey, British Geological Survey, SEPA and ESRI UK.
While we are well aware of the pressures on many organisations at this current time, our research suggests GHiGs is the sort of initiative that would be achievable under current working arrangements and offers a cost effective multi-partner approach that meets several policy and strategy objectives around greenspace / open space, urban regeneration, climate action and sustainability. It would highlight potential demonstrator projects that could be taken forward as part of a broader strategic plan to address the challenge of transforming our energy system to use low carbon heat. In doing so it would add value to our greenspaces without compromising their existing functions and, in doing this, give them additional protection.
If you are interested in becoming a partner in GHiGs please contact parkpower@greenspacescotland.org.uk by 15th May 2020. I can then keep you informed about project status and our funding position.