MORE than one in four households in the Scottish island regions of Orkney and the Western Isles now have a certified renewable energy installation, according to recent data.
According to data from Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), who specialise in the certification of renewable instillation and set industry standards, the people in the Scottish island regions of Orkney and the Western Isles had the highest uptake in certified renewable installations in their homes in the whole of the UK.
The data showed that 28% of people on Orkney had some form of renewable, like a solar panel or a heat pump, installed and certified with households in the Western Isles not far behind at 25%.
Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS, credits the region as the “superstar” local authority in the UK for leading the way in renewables.
He also praised the community's decision to go with renewable projects like heat pumps and solar panels as alternative energy sources to gas.
He said: “Orkney really is the superstar local authority in the whole of the UK and that's partly because of the community there.
“I think they were the first place in the UK to ever put a wind turbine on the grid and connect it to the national grid.
“They've got a legacy there that they want to maintain. “I also think because they are off the gas grid, I think they've got to make choices, and they're making renewable choices.”
There are currently only four local authorities in the UK with an uptake of more than 20%.
MCS, who works to define, develop, and maintain instillation standards, also runs a certification scheme and believes that offering people quality insurance from installers will give them more reassurance to invest in renewable energy sources.
Rippin says MCS can offer these reassurances as people will naturally have questions like what kind of access will workman need or is the technology specific for each home.
He said: “People need reassurance that this technology is going to work for their home.
“They need what's right for them which is why it's great that there's free advice available through energy saving trust and others.
“They also want to know if they’ve got questions or if there are problems, who can I turn to?
“And that's we would say that's MCS, if you've got an issue, and you're not able to solve it with your installer, you come to us.
“If you get all those bits of the recipe right, consumers will start to adopt the technology.
“People need just extra reassurance and never underestimate that consumers, the majority, want to do the right thing and go green.
“Decarbonizing your heat is your big is probably one of the biggest contributors to your carbon footprint.
“We've got to make sure that we are presenting to the market installers who they can put their trust in well qualified, competent, sensitive to their needs specific to their home.”
In March 4500 certified heat pumps were installed making it the second-best month ever for the technology.
Last year was also the best year for the technology and certified installations of heat pumps are currently up by 30% in comparison to 2023.
