Learnings

Outcomes

The project successfully tested, updated and launched the energy systems toolkit.

Through the engagement of 7 local authorities and local energy groups, the energy system toolkit was evaluated and assessed to have two primary uses: 

·       First as an excellent resource for capability building and educating a wide range of stakeholders on the challenges and complexities in achieving net zero.

·       Second in providing an easy to use, but high-fidelity calculation tool to quickly assess different option to  decarbonise local energy supply, providing assessment emissions, security of supply and cost.

Therefore the energy system toolkit was updated and finalised with three parts to meet the primary uses:

1.     The net-zero and energy knowledge base

2.     Pathfinder lite guidance

3.     Pathfinder lite tool

The Energy systems toolkit was successfully launched and is now available for use:

o   Webinar

o   Blogs and social media campaign

o   podcast

Lessons Learnt

The key challenge in the project was recruiting a sufficient number of local authorities to test the toolkit. Two key elements caused a challenge in this:

1.     When first approaching the local authorities to undertake the testing a requirement to sign an NDA was proposed to protect the key information within the toolkit before the launch.  This had a significant slow down effect on the engagement with many local authorities, due to the need for legal advice and senior sign-off, in some cases the local authorities were simply not able to sign the NDA’s despite this being fairly standard in business to business engagement.

2.     The second engagement challenge involved the general availability of local authority sustainability teams,  this was fairly limited and many found it difficult to schedule sufficient time to provide free testing unless it aligned with ongoing activities. Identifying the right people and appropriate time to test the toolkit was challenging for many local authorities and therefore scheduling sufficient time to undertake the testing is important.

Local energy groups, that often support and advise local authorities were found to be more flexible and able to provide quick feedback.

Key recommendations when engaging local authorities:

·       Ensure the process is simple as possible – avoid need for legal sign-off or coordination of multiple parties within each local authority

·       Schedule sufficient time calendar time for local authorities to undertake the evaluation

·       Maintain continuous dialogue with local authority groups to ensure activities are not de-prioritised.

·       Within the project only about 50% of organisations approached were able to test and provide feedback on the toolkit, we recommend approach double the amount of organisation as required when undertaking this kind of public evaluation.