The Western Isles renewable energy solution?
So how did it do this? Well by getting islanders on board. Samso is described as a tightly knit deeply conservative (small c) community (not unlike the Western Isles). Ten years ago islanders drew nearly all their energy from oil and petrol brought in by tankers and from coal-powered electricity. Now it is a net exporter of energy.
None of these enterprises has been imposed by outsiders or been funded by major energy companies. Each plant is owned either by a collective of local people or by an individual islander. The Samso revolution has been an exercise in self-determination – a process in which islanders have decided to demonstrate what can be done to alleviate climate damage while still maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.
Last month I called for efforts towards local energy security and a zero carbon economy here in the Western Isles.
We can no longer sit on our hands and wait for decisions on mainland infrastructure such as the Beauly Denny line or the interconnector to the mainland. We need a vision for our energy future. One that sustains us – whatever else happens in the world.
I’ve heard people say that when the interconnector comes all will be well. We’ll have the wind farms. We’ll have the money for infrastructure (not only energy but roads and other services). Meanwhile more people are leaving and frankly despite arguments to the contrary I believe more people will leave if we go down the route of large industrial wind farms and those who stay will be older, not economically active and in need of care from carers no longer available to us. The population is again falling and we are all growing older. I’ve lived here for nearly ten years now and seen little progress on local sustainable energy. In Samso the revolution took 10 years to achieve. What actually, practically have we achieved in those 10 years?
