Against the stunning backdrop of the mountains of Knoydart beyond, HICEC held its 3rd annual conference "Community Energy in Practice" on 15 – 17 October 2007 at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Sleat on the Isle of Skye. Over 100 community representatives from across Scotland gathered at the college for the conference which focussed on the practical development of community-owned renewable energy. The event was hosted by Sleat Community Trust, one of the groups HICEC are supporting to develop a renewable project for their area.

Keynote speaker Alan Hobbett said “In terms of renewable energy development, bigger is not necessarily better. Scotland has tremendous renewable energy resources and real potential to develop these in a way which brings benefits to communities at local level. The need to decommission large parts of our existing electrical supply infrastructure over the next 20 years means there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop a different, more decentralised approach. As this conference has shown, community organisations are increasingly interested and able to take on projects of this nature. With strong leadership, de-centralised, community-owned renewable power generation could become a much more common part of the energy supply mix - addressing our energy needs, climate change and empowering communities all at the same time. If this policy is to be realised, the Scottish Government will require to negotiate and agree with Westminster for energy policy to be fully devolved to Scotland”.

The conference also provided an excellent forum for community delegates to share their own experiences of their own projects and provided on introduction to community renewables for delegates fresh to this field. Sessions on the five sub-themes of the conference were how to mobilise your community; project management; funding and finance; planning regulations; low carbon planning and investing for community benefit. Technical surgeries were also held by the HICEC team and these provided information on all the latest renewable energy technologies. One delegate commented "This conference provided excellent information sessions and there were great opportunities for networking, a very useful component of the event. It made me aware that a lot of groups are in the same boat as us and it helped greatly by hearing other's people's experiences." Another delegate from Uist commented "This was an excellent source of information and we had lots of questions answered. We community folk had a very useful, productive and enlightening get-together. The value of networking should not be underestimated. Great people, as ever, make these things memorable".

A local film-maker was on hand to record the event and a DVD of the 3-day event will be available in due course. Presentations given at the conference will also be made available and will appear on shortly on this webpage.

HICEC would like to thank the Sleat Community Trust, the staff at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and the enthusiastic delegates themselves who contributed in making the conference a huge success.