Braemore Square started out as a project for us in 2024 but extended into 2025. It was a voyage of discovery, literally.
As with many older properties in the Highlands, what you thought was one thing, wasn’t…
Here’s how a solar storage installation and grid meter change snowballed!
Braemore Square is a property just south of Ullapool. The new owners had recently purchased it and wanted to install renewable energy, and to have battery storage and some offgrid capability. A good burn ran through their property but the levels and land ownership weren’t quite right to make a viable hydro scheme stack up. However, with a south facing opportunity at the bottom of the garden / paddock, a solar storage installation looked like it would work.
The property is split power-wise into the main house and the annex, but within the annex were 3 flats and some garages. Supplies from the grid were split, and what looked like 3 phase wasn’t 3 phase, but became three phase and is now 3 phase. Figure that one out. Even SSEN turned up with many shovels and turned the garden into a series of molehills and people with scratchy chins.
We had significant challenges rearranging the meter layout from 3 x single phase meters to a single 3 phase meter to suit the Client’s new requirements for the property and to allow the solar generation to be spread across the consumers.*
Once overcome though we were able to move quickly and we installed two solar storage systems, one in the main house and a larger 3 phase system in their annex, feeding their flats and the newer conference and co working facility. With access to backup power should the grid go down, and hot water diversion to augment their renewable heating systems, the two systems should contribute meaningfully to the power consumption on the site over the coming years.
Testimonial:
The Client published a story online about the work at their property and gives Proterra Energy a nice mention:
‘We love their values statement “to be a fair and ethical renewables company providing a quality engineered solution for our customers” and we can testify to their having more than lived up to this with every employee we have worked with.’
– Property Owner
* Why is a grid meter change difficult in the Highlands? And what we learnt.
Unfortunately for the Client, their power provider was hugely difficult and obstructive to deal with, when all the Client wanted to do was change a meter. We helped with it, but even with the experience we have of doing this we struggled. Eventually the provider relented the day before we were due to attend court. It was really painful for everyone involved, but unfortunately is becoming all too common, especially in the Highlands where few of the power companies have any staff or locally based resources who can speak with you and understand the location and the history of changing properties. It’s a real shame that a company with “Scottish” in its name really doesn’t have much Scottish about it: few staff, no resources or awareness of the land, where people are and why it’s not unreasonable to assume there might be a suitable 3 phase meter in the whole of Scotland.
We know others are experiencing issues like this too; even new build houses are waiting for extended periods of time. This has been happening for quite some time in the Highlands, as the BBC reported back in 2022.
If you’re having trouble with grid meters and would like some advice, or you want to find out more about solar storage installation at your property, please get in touch.
Braemore Square is a property just south of Ullapool. The new owners had recently purchased it and wanted to install renewable energy, and to have battery storage and some offgrid capability. A good burn ran through their property but the levels and land ownership weren’t quite right to make a viable hydro scheme stack up. However, with a south facing opportunity at the bottom of the garden / paddock, a solar storage installation looked like it would work.
The property is split power-wise into the main house and the annex, but within the annex were 3 flats and some garages. Supplies from the grid were split, and what looked like 3 phase wasn’t 3 phase, but became three phase and is now 3 phase. Figure that one out. Even SSEN turned up with many shovels and turned the garden into a series of molehills and people with scratchy chins.
We had significant challenges rearranging the meter layout from 3 x single phase meters to a single 3 phase meter to suit the Client’s new requirements for the property and to allow the solar generation to be spread across the consumers.*
Once overcome though we were able to move quickly and we installed two solar storage systems, one in the main house and a larger 3 phase system in their annex, feeding their flats and the newer conference and co working facility. With access to backup power should the grid go down, and hot water diversion to augment their renewable heating systems, the two systems should contribute meaningfully to the power consumption on the site over the coming years.
Testimonial:
The Client published a story online about the work at their property and gives Proterra Energy a nice mention:
‘We love their values statement “to be a fair and ethical renewables company providing a quality engineered solution for our customers” and we can testify to their having more than lived up to this with every employee we have worked with.’
– Property Owner
* Why is a grid meter change difficult in the Highlands? And what we learnt.
Unfortunately for the Client, their power provider was hugely difficult and obstructive to deal with, when all the Client wanted to do was change a meter. We helped with it, but even with the experience we have of doing this we struggled. Eventually the provider relented the day before we were due to attend court. It was really painful for everyone involved, but unfortunately is becoming all too common, especially in the Highlands where few of the power companies have any staff or locally based resources who can speak with you and understand the location and the history of changing properties. It’s a real shame that a company with “Scottish” in its name really doesn’t have much Scottish about it: few staff, no resources or awareness of the land, where people are and why it’s not unreasonable to assume there might be a suitable 3 phase meter in the whole of Scotland.
We know others are experiencing issues like this too; even new build houses are waiting for extended periods of time. This has been happening for quite some time in the Highlands, as the BBC reported back in 2022.
If you’re having trouble with grid meters and would like some advice, or you want to find out more about solar storage installation at your property, please get in touch.
Get in touch with Proterra Energy directly, or use the form below to request an email or call back and we’ll get in touch as soon as possible.
