AREG News: AREG wraps up successful year with 2025 calendar launch and Christmas event

December 20, 2024
AREG News: AREG wraps up successful year with 2025 calendar launch and Christmas event

Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG), the original energy transition organisation, has announced the winners of its 2025 calendar photography competition during its annual Christmas members’ social event.

The 13 winning images, which were captured by amateur photographers from across the North-east of Scotland, best represented the theme of this year’s competition, ‘renewable energy around the clock’, showcasing the diverse sights of Scotland’s renewable energy infrastructure which contributes to meeting energy demands 24/7.

The images featured in the 2025 calendar include views of offshore wind turbines seen from Aberdeen’s beachfront, onshore turbines nestled in the Scottish countryside, solar panels powering local homes and electric vehicle charging points in the city. Each image will be featured in the calendar and displayed at Aberdeen Science Centre for the coming year.

The competition winners were announced during AREG’s festive Christmas social and networking event held at Pittodrie Stadium.

The calendar launch also marks the end of a successful year for AREG, which recently enhanced its leadership with two new board appointments and strengthened its operational staff with two new hires.

Earlier this year, Allan MacAskill, technical director at Flotation Energy, and Andrew Wilson, managing director at Coast Offshore, joined AREG’s board of directors, while Sarah Wells, AREG’s business development manager, has been joined by Samantha Edgar, business relations executive, and Kelechi Odoemelam, administrative assistant.

Jean Morrison, chair at AREG, commended each of the competition winners and reflected on a successful year for the organisation.

She said: “Our 2025 calendar launch was a great way to bring this year to a close. We would like to congratulate each of the winners and thank everyone who took the time to submit a photograph. Through this competition we aim to showcase how well integrated renewable energy technologies are within our daily lives, including our homes, workplaces and how we travel.

“This year has been very positive for AREG, as we welcomed two new experienced directors to our board and grew our team to enhance our offering and continue to deliver value to our members. Exciting plans are underway for 2025, which include our upcoming Scottish Energy Futures Conference, in partnership with SPE Aberdeen, which aims to support the deployment of technologies to advance the energy transition.”

AREG’s mission is to help its members take advantage of increasing opportunities in renewables and to champion the sector, helping build Scotland’s reputation for excellence in energy.

To find out more about the Scottish Energy Futures Conference, please visit https://aberdeenrenewables.com/events/scottish-energy-futures-conference-spe-aberdeen-and-areg/

Get in touch

AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce

The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy

Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall

Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise