1.      Introduction

Community Energy Scotland is recruiting for an Assistant Technical Officer or Technical Officer  (dependent on skills and experience, with responsibilities on the successful candidate allocated accordingly).

We are offering either part-time or full-time hours (0.6FTE – 1FTE).

Please indicate on your application letter whether you are applying for the Technical Officer or Assistant Technical Officer position and if you would prefer full-time or part-time.

We are looking to recruit an energetic, well-organised and self-motivated individual to work as part of a team delivering the technical aspects of several of CES’s projects. Training as required, personal development opportunities, and support will be provided by Community Energy Scotland.

This application pack introduces you to the application process and timetable, and the  role. If you have any queries, please contact Rona at:

jobs@communityenergyscotland.org.uk.

2.      The Application process

2.1.  Timetable

The timetable for the application process is as follows:

12.30 Monday 20th May	Deadline for receipt of application by email to jobs@communityenergyscotland.org.uk
Friday 24th May	Applicants informed whether they have been short-listed for interview and about the interview format
Week of Monday 27th May	Interviews conducted via MS Teams
Friday 7th June	Interviewees informed of the outcome
July2024	We aim for the successful candidate to start as soon as possible

2.2.  How to apply

Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV to jobs@communityenergyscotland.org.uk by 12.30 on Monday 20 May The cover letter should provide the following information:

• Personal & contact details
• The names and contact details of two referees, one of which should be your current or most recent employer.
• A brief explanation of your interest in CES and the post
• A brief explanation of how you meet the person specification.
• A completed copy of our CES Diversity Monitoring Form. We collect this information to monitor our diversity and inclusion within our organisation. The information is kept confidential and not used in candidate selection.

Referees will only be contacted once the successful candidate has been offered the job subject to references.

For enquiries about the vacancy please send an e-mail to jobs@communityenergyscotland.org.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Data & Privacy

We collect or use the following personal information as part of CES staff recruitment, administration and management:

• Contact details (eg name, address, telephone number or personal email address)
• Date of birth
• Photographs (eg staff ID card)
• Copies of proof of address documents (eg bank statements or bills)
• Details of any criminal convictions (eg DBS checks)
• Political, conflict of interest or gift declarations

We also collect the following information for CES staff recruitment, administration and management:

• Racial or ethnic origin
• Sexual orientation information

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information as part of staff recruitment, administration and management are:

• Consent
• Legal obligation

 

Please see our Privacy Notice for further information.

3.      background information

3.1.  Our organisation

Incorporated in 2007, CES’s charitable objects are community development, environmental protection and the prevention and relief of poverty. CES has been at the forefront of community energy development since then, supporting communities to take control of and benefit from their local renewable energy resources and help lower carbon emissions.

CES is a membership based organisation with over 400 Members across Scotland and is open to non-profit-distributing community groups to join. The Board of Community Energy Scotland is made up of elected and co-opted Directors. CES’ core values are:

• Trust: Trust is fundamental to how staff and the volunteer Board work together as a team in pursuit of CES’s aims;
• Integrity: our members and the communities we work with recognise that we are reliable, impartial and deliver on our promises;
• Passion: Our Board and staff are committed to community development through a process of decarbonisation and democratisation of the energy system.

3.2.   Working for Community Energy Scotland

Community Energy Scotland currently has 26 members of staff based all over Scotland, including Orkney, the Outer Hebrides, Shetland, the Inner Hebrides and across the mainland. Staff have the option of working from home or being based in a local office.

In our Staff Satisfaction Survey in January 2024 when asked what they liked best about working for CES, staff gave the following feedback:

• “Being treated with respect.”
• “The opportunities provided through my role to meet new people, learn new things, and work on meaningful issues.”
• “Fellow colleagues and opportunity to do worthwhile work benefiting communities.”
• “Kind and friendly colleagues and management team. The trust in staff to explore new work and light touch management giving the freedom to develop new areas.”
• “Flexibility of working allows me to maintain a work-life balance and pursue interests and have good relationships outside of work. I think there is a good sense of community and belonging within our team despite being based in different areas”
• “I really like the type of work, the team are all really driven and it feels like we are trying to make a positive change in the world.”

3.3.  Project summaries

CES has several projects it is working on currently which the successful candidate for this role could be involved in. Descriptions of the projects are given below.

3.3.1.      Rural Energy Hubs

Rural Energy hubs is a joint decarbonisation project between Orkney and Shetland. Project partners include project lead Aquatera, Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), and Community Energy Scotland.

The Rural Energy Hubs project takes a place-based approach to overcoming non-technical barriers to accelerate decarbonisation. It will establish a pilot Rural Energy Hub in Brae, Shetland as well as demonstrating a range of services that could be integrated into Hubs. The Hub itself could include elements such as shared working spaces, comfortable meeting areas, rapid charging facilities, renewable energy generation, a car club and e-bikes location. The project will also explore services that could make use of the Hubs or be colocated with them to support decarbonisation in the wider community, such as trialling use of electric buses and HGVs that would recharge at the Hub enabling them to undertake longer routes, and developing concept designs for a district heating scheme in Brae.

The pilot Hub will be used to engage consumers, identify regulatory and grid constraints and drive behaviour change. The Hub will demonstrate products, services, facilities and business models with a specific focus on energy and transport.

The project aims to use the pilot Hub to develop a model for establishing a wider network of rural energy Hubs across Orkney and Shetland, and to demonstrate how decarbonisation can be developed, embedded and accelerated by establishing locally-led coordinated action in Rural Energy Hub. Hubs would provide practical focal-points to drive decarbonisation for individuals, businesses and local authorities, maximising social, economic and environmental benefits.

3.3.2.      Islands Centre for Net Zero

The Islands Centre for Net Zero is an exciting 10 year project that started in 2023 and will run until 2033. The ICNZ is a pan-island innovation project funded by Scottish and UK Ministers through the Islands Growth Deal, that will support Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides to become lighthouse communities in the energy transition.

By exploring and trialing solutions to decarbonisation that have replicability and application worldwide, the project will accelerate the islands’ journey towards decarbonisation, while generating additional GVA and green jobs for the islands.

ICNZ will work with local communities and businesses from the ground up, empowering the islands to navigate pathways to decarbonisation to deliver:

• Ten percent average reduction per year in carbon emissions for all three island groups over the next ten years
• Sustainable “green” jobs within the islands for 300 people
• Eight times the impact from the Islands Growth Deal investment over the longer term through match funding and generation of new revenue streams
• Significant added value to other low carbon future projects and other Deal strands, ensuring decarbonisation impact across the whole programme

Islands Deal funding will support the establishment of the core centre facility at the Orkney Research and Innovation Campus, the creation of a decarbonisation toolbox, and investment in energy transition capital projects across Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. The Centre will support the exploration, trialling and acceleration of solutions to decarbonisation that could have replicability worldwide.

3.3.3.      Carbon Neutral Islands

The Carbon Neutral Islands (CNI) Project is a Programme for Scottish Government that aims to support six islands to reach carbon neutrality by 2040. In 2022, six islands were initially identified and included in the CNI project: Barra & Vatersay, Cumbrae, Hoy & Walls, Islay, Raasay, and Yell.

On each island the CNI project is led by a steering group of community representatives. This group identified an anchor organization within the community, which was then funded by the CNI project to employ a local CNI Community Development Officer (CDO). The CDO is the link between the Steering Group, the Community, and the external agencies involved in the project, supported by Community Energy Scotland. 

In the first phase of the project, wide ranging baseline carbon audits were carried out for each island. These identified key carbon sources and sinks with the aim of stimulating discussion and engagement with the local communities.  

The CDOs worked closely with the technical team at CES to ensure local data informed the baseline carbon audit, which also also included work by external consultants. The carbon audits, along with climate and coastal change assessments by Adaptation Scotland are tools to help identify and highlight potential key areas for decarbonisation, mitigation and adaptation actions.  

Informed by these technical tools, the CDOs led discussions and engagement activities within their communities to help identify key priorities for action, which were included as part of a Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) produced by each island.  This year the project is focussd on carrying out feasibility work related to community renewables and sustainable transport projects.

4.      Technical Officer Job description

Community Energy Scotland is looking to recruit an energetic individual who shares CES’ values to be part of a team delivering and providing support on the technical elements of projects.

Personal development opportunities, and support will be provided by Community Energy Scotland.

• Fixed-Term Post to 31^st March 2025.
• Part-Time or Full Time Post (21 hours minimum to full time at 35 hours per week) with potential for flexible working/job share
• Reporting to CES Technical Manager

4.1.  Job Profile

4.1.1.      Overall Purpose

Working as part of a technical team in CES to provide practical & technical support for community energy project development across a portfolio of innovative projects and research activities on areas including renewable electricity generation, low carbon heat, sustainable transport, smart energy systems and building fabric improvements.

4.1.2.      Job Description

Main Tasks 

Tasks within the role will vary depending on current projects and the skillset of the officer but may include any of the following:

• Working as a team to carry out options appraisals and analysis of the technical & financial feasibility of energy projects.
• Advising on technical systems and solutions for projects.
• To provide technical analysis of demand and generation profiles, and opportunities for closer integration of renewable energy sources and local loads.
• To generally give technical support to community energy groups and their activities and collaborate with community organisations to further the aim of a Just Energy Transition. This will include technical support and advice to communities on areas including reducing energy costs and increasing energy efficiency for their buildings and facilities and developing low-carbon local transport projects.
• To support communities through the process of setting up local energy clubs.
• Create viable financial models for investment in energy distribution infrastructure and new business models for energy delivery
• Delivery of framework & metrics, baselining & gap analysis and data collection for carbon audits and other work.
• Delivery of ground truthing to ensure carbon audits reflect as accurately as possible the picture of emissions across communities in Scotland.
• Energy monitoring and gathering baseline data such as data on energy demand and generation, and analysing this data using statistical methods, as well as innovative and exploratory methods.  Coding computer scripts may also be used to work with live data streams such as those accessible over API to build data pipelines for project data requirements. Customisation of these scripts to correctly format data or generate summative statistics. 
  • Working with the CES Community Data Digital Officer to share information and data with community groups and key stakeholders.
  • Supporting the Head of Development by providing technical inputs for bids and project proposals.
  • To assist the CES (Trading) team in the delivery of innovation advice and consultancy to clients.
  • To support the development of an innovation knowledge centre within CES, including a project database and toolkit for innovation options.

Administration 

• To keep all personal work records up to date such as annual leave requests, timesheets and CES’s online systems (Monday.com and Sharepoint).

• Attending project and team meetings.
• Writing and distributing minutes and actions from relevant meetings.
• Feeding back information about the project’s progress to CES colleagues.
• Communicating any issues or deviations from project plans.

Representing CES:

• Acting as a positive ambassador for CES and ensuring that all activities are performed in a way that is in line with its vision and mission.
• Working collaboratively with the entire CES team to encourage collaboration on related tasks and projects.
• Representing CES at local, national and international outreach and promotion events as necessary.
• Providing updates on your work on projects for social media and website pages to ensure a good public profile.

Other Tasks

• To prepare, deliver and facilitate presentations/open meetings and discussions when required.
• To play a full role in the evolution and operation of the team at Community Energy Scotland, and support the success of Community Energy Scotland as a whole.
• Ongoing requirement to ensure work activity is well communicated to the wider CES team
  • Support the provision of educational materials and training sessions for other CES staff, CES Members and other community organisations.
  • To undertake other duties as may be required from time to time by the Chief Executive.

4.1.3.      Person Specification

The post holder will be expected to work on their own initiative, be self-motivated and well organised, and able to work to deadlines. 

4.1.3.1.            Essential Knowledge, Skills & Attributes

• Relevant degree and qualifications or other training in energy systems or renewable energy project development or significant commensurate experience.
• For the Technical Officer role we are looking for a minimum of 2 years of additional work experience.
• Demonstrable knowledge and/or experience of 3 of the following:
  • Undertaking feasibility studies and options appraisals for renewable energy projects
  • In-depth understanding of the UK energy system and SMART grids, including compiling and analysing energy demand and energy generation profiles and assessing impact on the grid.
  • A range of energy storage technologies, including thermal storage as well as electrical storage.
  • A range of transport technologies (e.g. electric vehicles)
  • Low carbon heat technologies and district heating and assessing heat loads.
  • Building energy use, including current buildings regulations and best practice standards including energy efficiency of fabric and inclusion of low carbon technologies
  • Decarbonisation, climate & carbon accounting and Net Zero
  • Data collection and analysis techniques, including statistical analysis software and/or coding.
  • Familiarity with analysis or research, working to funding specifications, team-working in a research focussed manner.
  • Ability to prioritise work and meet deadlines.
  • Determination, perseverance, and sound problem-solving skills in the face of obstacles and challenges.
  • A high level of self-motivation.
  • Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, stakeholders and the wider public.
  • Strong commitment to Community Energy Scotland, its ethos and purpose.

• Ability to work well as part of a team.

4.1.3.2.            Desirable Knowledge, Skills & Attributes

In addition to the above, it may be desirable for candidates to possess some or all of the following:

• Experience of analysing network constraint scenarios
• Experience of working with community organisations
• Effective partnership-building skills and practical and effective experience of partnership working
• A good understanding of community development
• Experience of local area planning with relevance to carbon neutral plans.
• Understanding of inclusion and dignity in a charity setting both internal to CES and with our prospective clients/partners

4.1.4.      Salary

• £30,210 per annum for full-time post for Technical Officer role. Progression from starting salary is reviewed annually, and subject to satisfactory performance and Community Energy Scotland’s financial status.
• £26,500 per annum for full-time post for Assistant Technical Officer role. Progression from starting salary is reviewed annually, and subject to satisfactory performance and Community Energy Scotland’s financial status.
• Employer’s monthly contribution to pension at a rate of 3% of monthly salary. If employment with Community Energy Scotland extends beyond one year’s service, the contribution provided by Community Energy Scotland will at that stage rises to 6% of monthly salary. The employee contribution rate is 5% reducing to 2% after one year's service to meet the minimum required contribution.  Employees can increase their personal contributions at any time.
• 36 days of leave per annum for full time employee (35 hours per week); comprising of 25 days flexible annual leave, plus 11 days of fixed and flexible bank holidays. Increasing to 27 days flexible leave pro rata after 2 years of service, 29 days flexible leave pro rata after 4 years of service and 30 days flexible leave pro rata after 5 years of service.

4.1.5.      Location

Flexible within Scotland. Option to work from home or from an office. We currently have office provision in Orkney, Benbecula and Lewis and some staff in Glasgow and Edinburgh work part time in shared office spaces. Travel within Scotland is anticipated and you may have the opportunity to travel abroad.  

4.1.6.      Start Date

July 2024 or as soon as possible.