Training and events

We held a free lunchtime webinar to learn all about the Home Energy Scotland Loan.

We discussed:

• The Home Energy Scotland Loan in depth, focussing on the process involved for your customers
• The new cashback incentive recently announced by Scottish Government, and what it might mean for your sector.

You can watch a recording of the webinar here. You can find the answers to the questions raised during the webinar in our FAQ document.

Energy Saving Trust, in partnership with the British Standards Institution (BSI), held a workshop for the energy efficiency industry in Scotland to gain feedback into the next versions of the BSI Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) 2035 and 2030 standards.

Sponsored by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the PASs establish a framework of new and existing standards on how to conduct effective energy retrofits of existing buildings. Both PAS 2035 and PAS 2030 – through TrustMark approval – are a requirement for suppliers wishing to access Energy Company Obligation (ECO) 3 funding.

The Sustainable Energy Supply Chain programme took part in Installer Magazine and SNIPEF’s InstallerSCOTLAND Exhibition at the SEC in Glasgow on 12 September 2019.

This one-day plumbing and heating trade show gave Scottish tradespeople a unique day out, with valuable face-to-face interaction with manufacturers from across the industry.

We were delighted to be able to meet many of you at the exhibition and look forward to hopefully participating again next year.

The Sustainable Energy Supply Chain Programme hosted a webinar that looked at the Scottish domestic renewables sector post-FITs.

The webinar was presented by Tessa Clark, manager of the Scottish Home Renewables team at Energy Saving Trust, who covered the following topics:

• an overview of the domestic renewables market in Scotland
• the Smart Export Guarantee
• support offered for homeowners by Energy Saving Trust and Home Energy Scotland
• Home Energy Scotland loan for renewable measures

A webinar was held covering the Scottish Government’s consultation on Energy Efficient Scotland and looked at key points of interest to the supply chain including:

• recommendations from the supply chain and skills short life working group
• reducing the ultimate timeframe from 2040 to 2030

You can read the consultation document and response form.

Energy Saving Trust sponsored the first Dcarbonise Conference and Exhibition event, which took place on 15-16 May 2019 at the SEC Glasgow.

The inaugural event focused on the low-carbon built environment and transport solutions to improve our energy efficiency.

Aligned to the Scottish Government’s Energy Efficient Scotland programme, one of the event’s main target audiences were private sector landlords. This is due to the imminent introduction of minimum energy efficiency standards for the privately-rented sector in Scotland. Our key audiences in attendance were local authorities, small businesses, home-owners, among many others.

Energy Saving Trust also exhibited at the event. You can read more about our involvement in our blog.

The Scottish Government has published a report looking at quality assurance for the Energy Efficient Scotland Programme. Energy Saving Trust hosted two consultation workshops – one in Inverness and one in Stirling – to provide an opportunity to give feedback to the Scottish Government on the following:

• Energy Efficient Scotland consultation: on further development of the programme
• Energy Efficient Scotland: the future for low carbon heat for off gas buildings – the call for evidence

Why is the Scottish Government consulting? 

To ensure there is high quality work done through the programme, that consumers are protected, and to allow maximum participation from suppliers in Scotland, the Scottish Government is consulting on a number of areas. These include a need for:

• the development of quality assurance criteria, which will detail the key requirements for suppliers wishing to participate in the programme
• robust vetting and verification requirements that must not place undue administrative or financial burdens on SMEs (particularly micro-businesses)
• independent inspections of installations to ensure quality standards are consistently met
• Energy Efficient Scotland installations to be based on robust skills and competencies

Energy Saving Trust, in partnership with West College Scotland, offered a free to attend half-day workshop for installers in Scotland interested in becoming involved with energy storage systems. The workshop covered:

• basic energy storage system design
• energy storage system operation
• thermal energy storage (heat batteries)
• energy storage funding for householders

Energy Saving Trust in conjunction with Greenskills Scotland offered contractors such as installers and assessors the opportunity to attend free tailored customer service training. This one day training course helped contractors deliver a high quality service to their customers.

Topics covered included:

• customer service – examples of good and bad customer service
• what are the impacts of poor customer service?
• when does customer service start?
• communication and its impact on customer service
• identifying and working with vulnerable customers
• managing the expectations of customers
• social media and its impact on customer service

Energy Saving Trust held an Innovation Event at Glasgow Science Centre. Supporting the Scottish Government’s ambition to decarbonise energy systems and reduce fuel poverty through Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP), the aim of the event was to stimulate discussion, knowledge and interest amongst buyers and suppliers on the latest innovative products and services within the Scottish energy efficiency and renewables markets.

The event covered the up-to-date and commercially available energy efficiency and renewable products. It also shared knowledge of innovative approaches to retrofit work and best practice through project case studies.

A number of manufacturers also attended on the day to showcase the latest low carbon heat, energy efficiency and smart energy products. Speakers included the Scottish Government, ClimateXChange, National Energy Foundation,CAG Consultants and BBA CIT.

You can read copies of the presentations from the event below:

•   Opening plenary
•   Energy efficiency
•   Low carbon heat
•   Solar and smart energy