JOURNALIST Lesley Riddoch has explored why a Scottish rural community is energy-rich but lacks the power to make it work for them in her new film about why the grid network needs to be urgently upgraded.
The National columnist and filmmaker released her latest documentary, Applecross - Energy Rich, Power Poor, where she visited the north west peninsula in Wester Ross to highlight the energy struggles the rural community in Applecross is facing.
Applecross is famous for its spectacular views as it overlooks Skye and is the highest mountain pass in Britain, separating it from the rest of the Highlands, and is home to 250 residents.
Despite being surrounded by energy-rich sources, seven in 10 of its residents live in fuel poverty, Applecross lacks amenities like public electric charging points, and even the only inn doesn’t have capabilities to run electric showers, due to an inadequate grid connection.
One of the main points Riddoch makes is the community has had to become self-sustaining with its own energy, which includes its community hydro project, Apple Juice, due to the “feeble piece of grid” which services the area.
However, the community hydro project is unable to export any of the surplus energy it generates – meaning it is also losing out on vital income for community projects.
“It's [Applecross] the highest mountain pass in Britain, it's obviously got huge drops for hydro-energy, and it's a natural for lots of hydro-energy, and wind, the whole of the north of Scotland is windy too,” Riddoch explained.
“Anywhere else in the countries that I've been making films about for some time, that amount of natural resource, you would be laughing, because you would have a local, truly local council, and they would own the energy resource and be supplying it to their people for pretty much next to nothing.
“Whereas these folk are just at the other end of everything, having to wait for SSE to decide whether or not they're important enough to put in the grid improvement that was promised to be in place and operating in 2019.”
Riddoch explains in the film that the Apple Juice hydroelectric project, which has been running for around a decade, should have “transformed the lives” of the local community, but simply hasn’t due to the grid.
It’s not just the local community that has faced problems with the grid, with a nearby commercial hydro project having to wait five years before it saw the upgrades needed to export electricity into the grid properly, with around 60% of its output wasted, Riddoch explained.
New businesses are also unable to start up properly due to the lack of access to phase three energy, which they would require but is unavailable to them – the Applecross brewery is used as an example as it is based 10 miles south east of the village.
The 30-minute film was released last Wednesday and has since been viewed thousands of times online.
On Monday, the Scottish Government approved the planning application for the replacement of the existing overhead line between Fort Augustus and Skye.
SSEN's “Skye reinforcement” project will aim to replace the existing, single circuit overhead line, which is reaching the end of its operational life, according to the energy firm.
SSEN added that the line needs to be strengthened to maintain electricity to homes and businesses in Skye and the Western Isles, as well as renewable energy developments which are set to rely on the new line to carry electricity into the national grid.
A spokesperson for SSEN Transmission and SSEN Distribution confirmed that Applecross will benefit from the “Skye reinforcement” project.
They said: “Additional capacity for Applecross will come onstream on completion of SSEN Transmission’s proposed Fort Augustus to Skye reinforcement project.
“This has just been granted planning consent from the Scottish Government following the submission of a Section 37 planning application in 2022.”
Megan MacInnes, the development manager with the Applecross Community Company who stars in Riddoch’s film, said the delays in the upgrading of the grid has resulted in decades of lost income, but believes the film has helped to raise awareness on the issue.
“We are relieved to hear that planning permission has been granted for this upgrade to the national grid,” she said.
“It is probably just a coincidence, but maybe the film we recently made with Lesley Riddoch ‘Applecross – Energy Rich Power Poor’ – has raised awareness of the challenges we face? The delays so far with this grid upgrade have meant a decade of lost income from our community-owned hydro project, AppleJuice – money which could have been reinvested locally.
“We just hope this means the export cap will soon be lifted so that community energy projects, like ours, can reach their full potential.”
Ariane Burgess, the SNP MSP for Highlands and Islands, added it was a relief that the network upgrade has been approved but warned it is still years away from completion.
She said: “The community should be supported to make more use of the clean, green energy it generates locally via battery storage and EV chargers, for example.
“Across Scotland, we must update our grid to unlock the full potential of our community-owned renewables - both to provide energy security in an uncertain world and boost the resilience of rural communities.”
Riddoch concludes in her film that Scotland is surrounded by many great examples from other countries on how it can thrive with renewable energy infrastructure and highlights the admirable self-reliance of the Applecross community.
“The community company is amazing,” Riddoch said.
“We’ve seen all these things that are taken for granted everywhere else, which are provided by that little development trust and if income comes to it, it stays here.
“It creates infrastructure, it makes up for all the state, the council and everybody else is not providing here and it can't even get a second turbine into a tiny project.
“It can’t even export all the energy from its tiny hydro because of that constrained, inadequate grid.”
