Glenurquhart and Strathglass
Wind Energy Project
Community
Community involvement
Windpower and windfarms are slowly and gradually becoming established as a major source of financial and physical activity within the Highland economy. Development is currently dominated by large multinational companies or developers from outwith the Highlands and Islands community. Currently communities receive an annual negotiated financial benefit in return for a windfarm being sited in their area. This is a significant sum for a local community but not for the wider Highland economy and it is debatable whether the major long term financial gain accrued from the construction of windfarms in the Highlands will feed back into the local economy.
In Orkney a small 850 Kw single turbine has been built at Northfield in Burray financed entirely by individual local investors and the local community and in the island of Westray the community has come together to build their own 960Kw turbine, sourcing a large part of the required finance from the 'Growing Community Assets' section of the Big Lottery Fund. All the money generated by these projects feeds back into the local community.
It was decided to follow these examples on a larger scale and develop a 10MW windfarm on Corrimony involving the local community.
It is the wish of the promoters of the project that all investors in the project will be from Glenurquhart and Strathglass or have connections to the area and ideally to live in the Highlands and Islands. This would be a first for the Highlands for a project of this size.
Community consultation
The promoters of the project have taken an open approach to the development and have fully engaged with statutory consultees and environmental agencies; The Community, SNH and RSPB have been consulted at an early stage.
In February 2007 a public meeting was held in the Balnain hall open to all the people in the communities of Glenurquhart and Strathglass. 80 people attended and were given a description of the proposed project. At the end of the meeting a vote was taken asking for people to vote for continued investigation into the project. 75 folk voted in favour, 5 abstained and nobody voted against progressing the venture.
Volunteers were asked to go on a steering committee to guide the project forward. The following people put their names forward and now form the steering committee for the Glenurquhart and Strathglass Wind Energy Project -
- Anne McDonald
- Erik Trelfer
- Dianne Fraser
- Paul Stirling
- Peter Macdonald
- Mary Brook
- Edward Redmond
- Paul McKinley
- Kate McKinley
Project ownership
Provided sufficient money can be raised from within the community the following would be the ownership of the project -
- 20% Community Company
- 80% Local Investment Company
Investors and funding
It is anticipated that 20% of the cost of the project, £2.6 million, will be raised within the local community. Experience in Orkney shows that this is possible given the size of community in Glenurquhart and Strathglass. The other 80%, £10.4 million, will be raised through debt funding by a major bank.
Community Company :- This would be a company formed by the two communities of Glenurquhart and Strathglass limited by guarantee. The community would look to raise in the region of £260,000 for their share in the project . This is quite possible and the community can apply to sources such as the Climate ChallangeFund and the new Scottish Rural Development Plan ( SRDP ) or look for local philanthropists to lend the community the money for a limited period.
Local Investment Company :- This would be a company limited by guarantee with investors recruited from the local community or people connected to the community.
Social and Structural benefits
Local control; the local investors and community will have a majority shareholding in the venture and so will have total control over the development.
The community company will have sufficient income to invest in local social programmes, community projects, educational and vocational initiatives.
There will be a feeling of local power supply security within the community.
Local initiatives to reduce carbon emissions can be financed from the community dividend.
Economic benefits
There will be initial construction work and ongoing maintenance work which will, wherever possible, be given to local companies.
Ownership within the community gives real economic return from an investment , not handouts.
80% of the net income from the development will be retained within the local
community.
Dividends paid out annually to local investors will largely be spent within the community and so further stimulate the local economy.
If maximum local ownership is achieved, at current energy prices and ROCs payments the project will return in the region of £20 million to the economy of Glenurquhart and Strathglass over 20 years from the date of construction.
Assuming sufficient finance can be raised by the community to own 20% of the project, then the community will have in the region of £130,000 annually to spend on local projects in the first 10 years. After 10 years all debts will have been repaid and the community will have £330,000 annually to spend in the following years.
Note - All financial figures are estimates and are subject to alterations once all facts and figures, e.g. wind yield for the site, are collected.