Community-owned wind farms – a real option for the Borders?
Tuesday, November 28 2006
Communities creating their own electricity and even making a profit? It may sound like something out of science fiction, but Borders communities are set to discover that this vision of the future could well be a reality today.
At an event on Monday, December 11th, Alan Hobbett, a Business Development Manager with the Dunfermline Building Society, is set to come to the Borders to talk about community-owned wind farms. In particular he will focus on the Isle of Gigha, which has the first and only grid-connected, community-owned wind farm.
He will also discuss how Housing Associations can utilise and incorporate wind farms into developments. This event is being run by the Borders Sustainable Energy Forum, part of the New Ways Partnership.
Alan will outline how community-owned wind farms could present Borders communities with the opportunity not only to generate cleaner, greener energy for their own use, but with the opportunity to generate a profit for the community by selling electricity to the national grid. This profit can then be used to carry out projects and fund initiatives within the community and can be substantially more than the annual payments that some companies currently make to communities who live within a certain distance of a windfarm.
The main obstacle for communities doing this is the cost of development. However, Gigha is the only place in Scotland which has been able to overcome these initial financing problems and has got to the stage of having an operational windfarm.
Alan Hobbet is a voluntary Director of Gigha Renewable Energy Limited, the subsidiary company established by the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust to develop and manage the island’s wind farm. He is also a voluntary Director of the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company Limited.
This event on the 11th December, 4:15-6:15 at Tweed Horizons, is free, but as places are limited, please contact Sarah Glendinning, New Ways Co-ordinator, to book a place, on 01835 826542 or online by Friday 8th December.
Unified Solutions.