Energy Archipelago is a global and
self-governed community energy
portal. Mediating inter-community
networking and knowledge
exchange, providing insight to the
scope and nature of the community
energy sector and inspiring citizen
engagement in the renewable
energy transition.
Placing community-led renewable
energy in the public spotlight.
Contents
Mission statement ............................................................................. 2
Background ........................................................................................ 2
The Project ......................................................................................... 3
How is this Project Different? ............................................................ 5
Looking to the Future ......................................................................... 5
Regional Data Management - Responsibilities & Benefits ................. 6
Affiliates - Responsibilities & Benefits ................................................ 6
Steering Group - Responsibilities & Benefits ..................................... 7
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The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the Energy Archipelago online
portal, including information on the project background, aims, capabilities and potential. This
document is written to provide information to partners and affiliates, setting out their roles
and responsibilities and information regarding the project steering group.
Mission statement
Energy Archipelago is a global and self-governed community renewable energy portal that has
the following aims:

To mediate inter-community networking and knowledge exchange,

To provide insight to the scope and nature of the community renewables sector at
national and global levels,

To allow comparison of sector progress at regional and national scale

To inspire citizen engagement in the renewable energy transition and,

To place community-led renewable energy in the public spotlight to maximum effect.
Energy Archipelago partners share a common interest in supporting local ownership of
renewable energy assets and community-based energy action, as a means to promote
development of local energy economies, facilitate the wider renewable energy transition and
ultimately reduce inequality that is inherent to the modern economy. A unique platform for
knowledge exchange, insight and inspiration across the world, we hope this platform inspires
further transformative social innovation across sectors, regions and countries.
Background
Energy Archipelago is an extension of an online platform community energy called “Scene
Connect”. Based on collaboration with a UKERC funded data collection project (UKERC
EnGAGE), Scene Connect began in 2011 by expanding on a dataset of 97 Scottish community
energy projects. By 2012, Scene Connect had been extended, with funding from the Edinburgh
Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI), to generate a user driven database of over 400 projects
in tandem with a unique online interactive map and platform. The Scene Connect platform
garnered further input and support during the course of 2013, with over 700 registered
projects and interest from several potential partners.
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Sep 2011
Scene
established
Nov 2011
UKERC EnGAGE
Scotland enable
survey of 97
community
organisations in
Scotland
Dec 2011
ECCI funds
extension to UKwide database
of 405 projects
May 2012
First report
published on key
constraints to
community
power
Oct 2012
Official launch
Scene Connect
Portal
Late 2013 - current Jan 2015
Collaboration with Launch
Energy
James Hutton
Archipelago
Institute
(Scotland), CAP
(Australia) and U.
of Maine (USA)
The current new online portal was developed throughout 2014 with the help of the James
Hutton Institute and the Community Power Agency (CPA), Australia. To emphasize its new
global character, the portal was aptly renamed ‘Energy Archipelago’. Energy Archipelago now
includes over 400 projects within the UK, 40 from Australia, and the first projects from various
other countries. Collaboration with multiple regional data partners from South Africa,
Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and USA are now in place and datasets from these countries
are to be added in the next few months. The improved scale and functionality of Energy
Archipelago will enable the benefits of the project to be harnessed by a much larger, more
diverse set of users from around the globe.
The current partners of the project include: Scene Consulting (UK), Community Power Agency
(Australia), the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands), Energy Research Park (South Africa) and
The James Hutton Institute (UK).
The Project
Energy Archipelago is designed with a variety of users in mind – from the general public and
community organisations to municipalities, national government, commercial parties and
academia. The portal brings together data on a diversity of community-owned and
commercial-community partnership projects, including: wind, solar, bioenergy, hydro, tidal,
heat pump, and wave energy projects (amongst others).
The database consists of key primary data fields that were identified on the basis of three years
of research on community energy. The detail and scope of this data enables an overview of the
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status quo of community energy for public policy, a classification and overview of business
models and contact details for knowledge exchange for community practitioners, but also
provides the foundation for a diversity of academic research in this field. We envision the data
to serve a variety of purposes and users.
Added value of Energy Archipelago data for different user types
Target group
Use
Community groups &
community support
bodies
General public;
government; media
Commercial bodies
Finding nearby projects, projects with similar business models or
technologies, finding support organisations, and contact details.
Academic researchers
Status quo of community energy capacity, community / local
energy target tracking, business models, finance sources
Status quo of community energy capacity, market
understanding, business models, and technologies
Primary data fields for further analysis
Energy Archipelago acts primarily as a tool to improve awareness and engagement, but also as
a network for practitioners and researchers. The portal is open to the public, so has the
potential to raise both interest in, and understanding of, locally owned renewable energy.
Similarly, it provides evidence of community energy successes – helping to both inspire and
enable new communities and to engage commercial interests in the possibilities of community
energy. Once engaged, the portal provides a unique networking tool in the community energy
sector, allowing communities, businesses and support organisations to locate each other and
converse. By linking these users, the portal will improve knowledge sharing – such as the
sharing of experiences between community groups. Finally, Energy Archipelago is already a
resource for academia, both as an extensive community energy database and as a starting
point for networking and research collaboration.
Energy Archipelago’s capabilities will help to put community energy projects into the public
spotlight: increasing awareness of local energy and the benefits of community energy, as well
as linking interested parties across geographical boundaries. Ultimately we hope this
contributes to increasing uptake of local energy projects: improving resource security,
empowering communities and engaging citizens in climate change mitigation across the world.
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How is this Project Different?
We know that mapping projects are commonplace in the world of renewable energy. Energy
Archipelago is unique in the following ways:

Every user is in control of their own data
Each user, whether a regional partner or a project leader is able to log into the system and
add, remove or edit their data as they wish.

There is no central control
Regional data partners act as ‘super-users’ in their own countries/regions, meaning there is
no one entity in control of the system.

The direction of platform development is not set
We rely on affiliates to support this project, and with their support they can improve the
project in whatever way they see fit. This is not a proprietary project, but an effort to align
and galvanize global efforts in community power. See the affiliates section for more
information.
Looking to the Future
As Energy Archipelago progresses, the project aims to expand both its networking and
engagement tools. Pending the development of further partnerships and funding, the ideas
on the table include:

Global and regional level interactive statistics

A real time inter-community chat interface

Topic specific forums for all users

A “Community match-making service,” aimed at linking mutually beneficial
community projects

A Crowdsourcing platform for project financing

Routes for commercial engagement – enabling commercial-community dialogue, for
instance with specific local technology or service providers

Expansion of data to new regions and countries – supported by new partnerships
These future additions will serve to strengthen our ability to make Energy Archipelago a
useful and up-to-date resource in the long term.
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Regional Data Management - Responsibilities & Benefits
Thus far the data is provided and updated by third parties collecting data at regional or national
scale. Regional Data Managers are academic institutions with a longstanding focus on
community energy, or community support agencies. For academic institutions, this is a chance
to make practical use of their data collection efforts. For community support agencies,
involvement increases visibility, and facilitates support work through consolidating monitoring
and evaluation and knowledge exchange activities.
Community practitioners are encouraged to sign up as users and update project progress as
their projects develop from early planning to operational stages. As we expand platform
functionality, we hope to increase the active engagement of community practitioners, and for
the platform to become a leading social media platform for community organisations. Within
each region Regional Data Managers act as ‘Superusers’ and are able to edit and update data
as they choose.
Regional Data Managers benefit from increased visibility in the field. They will have the benefit
of collaborating with other partners from around the world – we anticipate that data-sharing
arrangements will come to fruition as a result.
Responsibilities of Regional Data Managers include a biannual (and preferably quarterly) data
update. Once a country or region has been mapped, the time commitment for these updates
is very limited (especially for community support organisations that aim to keep tab on project
progress of their members), because it generally involves updates on project progress only.
Should you be interested in becoming a Regional Data Manager, contact Vijay Bhopal
(Community Liaison) or Jelte Harnmeijer (Academic Liaison).
Affiliates - Responsibilities & Benefits
Affiliates fund ongoing expansion and development of the platform, and have in the past
included the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation, UKERC, Community Power Agency and
the James Hutton Institute. This may involve development of specific functionalities, or
collection of country specific datasets. Should you be interested in supporting Energy
Archipelago financially or otherwise, contact Jelte Harnmeijer (Affiliate Liaison).
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Steering Group - Responsibilities & Benefits
Scene Consulting (UK), James Hutton Institute (UK) and Community Power Agency (Australia)
are currently running the everyday logistics of the project and maintaining and updating the
platform. This work is implemented on voluntary basis.
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EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM FOR
AFFILIATES / DATA MANAGERS
First Name
Job Title
Last Name
Organisation Name
(if applicable)
Email Address
Address Line 1
Work Phone No.
Address Line 2
Mobile Phone No.
City
Country
I am interested in becoming a:
Affiliate
Data Manager
AFFILIATES
Contact: Jelte Harnmeijer; Scene Consulting/James Hutton Institute, [email protected], +44
(0)7581 015628
Affiliates fund ongoing expansion and development of the platform, and have in the past included the
Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation, UKERC, Community Power Agency and the James Hutton
Institute. This may involve development of specific functionalities, or collection of country specific datasets.
Affiliate Details
Your Background
Proposed Contribution
1
(Institution Name; Location; Sector)
(Community energy background; affiliate capabilities, etc.)
DATA MANAGERS
Contact: Vijay Bhopal; Scene Consulting, [email protected], +44 (0)7795 292872
Regional Data Managers are usually academic institutions with a longstanding focus on community energy,
or community support agencies. Within each region Regional Data Managers act as ‘Superusers’ and are
able to edit and update data as they choose. Responsibilities of Regional Data Managers include a biannual
(and preferably quarterly) data update.
Data managers can choose to upload data to the system in two ways:
-
Via an offline spreadsheet as a ‘bulk upload’. This options requires use of a data collection template
which has been created by the Energy Archipelago team.
-
Via the website front end. This requires the data manager or project leaders to fill out a project
registration form on the website.
Data Manager Details
Your Background
(Institution Name; Location; Sector)
(Community energy background; Data management capacities, etc.)
Proposed Contribution
Support Required from the
Energy Archipelago Team
(Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about getting involved)
Affiliate and data manager relationships with Energy Archipelago are bound by a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU). Interested parties will be required to read and accept this MoU before joining the
project.
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