Aberdeen Community Energy is a multi-award winning Community Benefit Society, was set up in 2015 by the Donside Community Association (DCA) to build, own and operate the Donside Hydro Scheme on behalf of the community.
ACE’s vision is to deliver on the founder’s ethos of Donside Village as a sustainable community, one that truly works for local residents, visitors and the area’s natural riverside setting . We are dedicated to delivering a project that is aligned with local and national government policy on energy, climate change and sustainable communities.
The ACE team work incredibly hard and successfully delivered the fully functioning Donside Hydro in September 2016.
Our Society Rules & Certificate of Registration
ACE Directors
Sinclair Laing
Founder
Trustee of Donside Village Community SCIO & shmu (Station House Media Unit)
Sinclair is a passionate environmentalist and strong believer in the power of civil society to deliver communal good. Having graduated with an Honours Degree in Environmental Science from Aberdeen University, they selected to stay in Aberdeen to establish their career in sustainability and community development. Sinclair has many years experience co-creating and delivering policy, strategy and projects at local to European level on a range of themes, including community empowerment and sustainable energy. Sinclair now leads a team of strategically focused public sector environment & sustainability professionals, focusing on protecting and enhancing the built and natural environment in, around and beyond Aberdeen.
Sinclair also dedicates much of their spare time to encouraging and supporting communities in Aberdeen, including in their home of Donside Village, to co-create strong community structures aiming to develop and deliver community ambitions, as evidenced by founding roles in Donside Village Community SCIO and ACE, as well as other projects.
Sinclair brings all of this collective experience and boundless enthusiasm to the role of Director of ACE.
Jane Fullerton
Chair & Founder
Trustee & Chair of Donside Village Community SCIO, Secretary of Tillydrone Community Campus, Trustee of Tillydrone Community Development Trust
Jane Fullerton has lived in the Donside Village for over 12 years and has been Chair of the Donside Village Community SCIO since it was founded. She has a background in working with disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalised people. Jane studied at Robert Gordon’s Grays School of Art, specialising in Ceramics, and then went on to obtain a degree in Secondary Art teaching. Following this, Jane spent eleven years in London, where she completed an Art Therapy degree at Goldsmiths University. During her time in London, Jane worked for Inner London Probation Service as an Art Therapist and ceramic teacher, working with offenders to try to stop the cycle of offending/prison/offending.
On returning to Aberdeen, Jane then worked with a local homeless charity, supporting people who were homeless and trying to get back on their feet and into accommodation.
Jane has a keen interest in social equality and inclusion and feels passionately about helping individuals to be aspirational and achieve their goals.
Jane also feels strongly about environmental issues and the proposed hydro project was an aspect that promoted Jane’s wish to live in Donside and take an active role within the community. Her communication skills and her passion with regard to inclusion, encouraging community engagement and taking better care of our planet are attributes that she brings to the role of director.
Clive Potter
Secretary & Technical Director
Trustee of Tillydrone Community Development Association
Clive is a retired electronics technician with experience in computer programming. He has worked offshore and onshore in hydrographic surveying, oil platform jacket inspection by ROV, fishing technology and downhole oil tools. He has lived in NE Scotland for 49 years, the last 24 in Tillydrone and is interested in sustainability, cycling and music.
He is a member of Aberdeen Climate Action, Friends of the Earth, The Northern Lights Singers and a trustee of Tillydrone Community Development Association. He has volunteered at Aberdeen Cyrenians and currently volunteers at CFINE collecting coffee grounds from a local cafe for composting in Earth & Worms community garden and at a community bicycle workshop in Middlefield Community Project as well as at the ACE hydro, keeping the water intake clear of debris and maintaining the electronic control system.
He also assists with maintaining the landscape and has planted quite a few trees along with other directors and volunteers.
Rick Vaughan
Treasurer & Finance Director
Rick is originally from Lowestoft where he obtained an HNC in Business Studies. He worked for Royal Dutch Shell for 36 years in a variety of management and leadership roles in Contracting and Procurement, Logistics, Finance and Business Improvement both in the UK and Australia.
He has lived in Aberdeen for more than 30 years and since taking early retirement in 2014, he has pursued his interests in travel, walking, the natural world and watching rugby union with his wife as well as undertaking volunteer work in local social enterprises and clubs.
A keen geocacher and nature lover he chanced upon the Donside Hydro whilst on an organised walk with the Aberdeen countryside rangers along the Don in April 2017. Since then, Rick has become a regular volunteer, tour guide, supporter and bond holder in ACE and was flattered to be invited to join the board in February 2019. He has adopted the role as team Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) coordinator and has worked on site and with the Dee Trust and Aberdeen City Council in managing Giant Hogweed and Himalayan Balsam on the Don and its tributaries.
He is passionate about ACEnergy and its role as a Community Benefit Society that truly works for local residents, visitors and the area’s natural riverside setting. He wants to use his business experience and enthusiasm to continue ACEnergy’s success story and deliver on its vision.
Sarah Christie
Health & Safety Director
Sarah Christie is 39 and a volunteer and a Director of ACE. She’s lived on the doorstep of the hydro plant in Donside Village until 2024 when she sadly moved out of the village. She will continue to spend a lot of my free time working alongside the team to ensure we are producing at maximum possible power. Sarah helps by keeping the otter screen clear of any debris.
Sarah lived in Donside village since it was built in 2012 until 2024 and watched the hydro being built.
Originally, before the site was built, she was against the idea of having a turbine near where they lived, thinking it would be like a jet engine noise and then she met with Sinclair Laing, who addressed her concerns, and changed my view on it and she’s never looked back. Sarah has learned a lot of skills, and she’s a good team worker, having helped in 2 major floods in 2014 and 2016 and other “flooding” since. She thrive on sustainable and renewable energy.
Sarah has also given passers-by an inside look into how the hydro works and have also helped plant over 2000 trees into the surrounding area. She just like getting stuck in with the team.
She always look forward to meeting new people and new ventures at the Donside Hydro.
Sarah is also the Health & Safety Co-coordinator at ACE, ensuring everybody’s safety is priority and that we are operating in a safe manner, although our whole team is responsible for Health and Safety.
Alistair Gibbs
Remote IT
Alistair is passionate about the environment- believing that even small changes by individuals can make more of a difference than it initially seems. He works for a Web Agency in Cardiff as a Head of IT and manages a small team.
He’s been an investor in the hydro scheme since 2016, and an active director since 2022. Whilst he lives over 500miles away, he’s able to join board meetings/help remotely from South Wales using the internet etc.
