HOUSEHOLDS on Cumbrae will benefit from a share of Scottish Government funding for solar panels.

The Carbon Neutral Islands (CNI) project has been awarded £166,500 towards the installation of solar panels to around 20 houses outside the conservation area on the island.

The proposal, which will be rolled out in different phases, will reduce emissions across the island's building stock whilst lowering energy bills for residents and businesses.

Cumbrae Community Council held its annual general meeting on Thursday, November 28 where community development officer for the project Scott Watson shared the update.

He told the meeting: "I am now happy to confirm that on Cumbrae we will be receiving £166,500 to go towards the domestic solar panel project for households outside of the conservation area.

"There will be a public meeting probably before Christmas where we will share a lot more detail about this.

"We are looking at up to 130 properties across the entire project. The funding that has been allocated to this is for the initial pilot phase which we think will do about 20 properties.

"The idea is that it will be an eight panel solar PV system and a five kilowatt battery system that will be added to the properties.

"We do have funding applications in at the moment for phase two which will be for an additional 50 properties.

"Once this is completed in its entirety and along with the existing installations, the reason this is so important is between the months of April and September, the island will be capable of generating more than its average peak demand during those months.

"So that is a huge step forward for the CNI project, for the island in terms of its carbon neutrality, providing energy stability and delivering real benefit to the community."

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In a second update, there was a finding of a strong desire for "community energy projects" from the Local Place Plan survey and the CNI surveys.

Scott added: "It came back with a strong appetite for a community energy project and naturally around the previous proposal of the solar farm at the top of the island there was a lot of strong opinions around that.

"I think as a project and as a community we need to have a bit more of a conversation about what a community project is for Cumbrae, how that would look and what would be deemed acceptable. 

"So working alongside Community Energy Scotland, the community council and other organisations and members of the community in the coming year, it is hoped that we would do a lot more engagement around this."

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He continued: "I would like to have some sort of proposal of community energy projects that could be taken forward into a feasibility stage.

"It will not be a quick process. These things take a long time to get off the ground, but there will be a lot of engagement required in the initial phases."

For more information about the CNI project and to read the progress report, visit gov.scot/publications/carbon-neutral-islands-project.