Clachan Flats, Argyll’s latest windfarm, capable of producing enough clean, green energy to power over 8,500 households, has been officially opened.
Situated above Clachan at Cairndow, the windfarm has nine turbines which together generate up to 15 MW of electricity.
The project was opened by Keith Anderson, Managing Director of ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), the Duke of Argyll and John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth.
Argyll and Bute’s spokesperson for Economy, Environment and Rural Affairs, Councillor Robert Macintyre, was also at the event along with Bute and Cowal Area Committee chair, Councillor Bruce Marshall.
Councillor Macintyre said: ‘The council welcomes the proactive approach taken by ScottishPower Renewables in working closely with our communities to take forward renewable energy development in Argyll and Bute.
‘There’s no doubt Argyll and Bute has a significant natural renewable resource, both onshore and offshore, and we want to ensure that we maximise the opportunities for sustainable economic growth for the benefit both of our communities and Scotland as a whole.
‘The aim of the innovative concordat with ScottishPower Renewables is to ensure the successful sustainable utilisation of the area’s renewable resource’.
Part of SPR’s commitment to the communities surrounding Clachan Flats is the creation of a new community trust fund, administered by the Clachan Flats Windfarm Trust in Cairndow and Inveraray Community Council, with the remit of supporting local projects and organisations.
Over £12,000 will be invested by SPR in this fund each year for the 25-year life of the windfarm.
Keith Anderson, ScottishPower Renewables director, says: ‘Clachan Flats is an excellent location for a windfarm and will make a significant contribution to our expanding wind energy operations, as well as helping Scotland to achieve its ambitious green energy targets.
‘This windfarm will be producing clean, green energy for at least the next 25 years and we hope that its presence will have a positive impact on the local community’.
Note: In relation to this story, see a follow up which raises serious issues and relates to comments from site visitors posted below.
The photograph above, by copyright holder, Paul Hadfield, is of the Clachan Flats windfarm near the head of Loch Fyne.
Well there’s a community that has been well and truly ripped off. Did no-one let the negotiators know that the ‘going rate’ per MW/h is £2,000 – £2,500? I know of a 8 turbine, 16MW/h windfarm that will earn a village in England £30,000 pa. Who runs it? Scottish Power Renewables.
Fintry negotiated a turbine for themselves and earn a great deal more. Neilston Development Trust have created a partnership with a commercial developer and look like they’ll earn between £250K-£750K per annum.
And what of the landowners who lease land for these developments? Well, they typically earn c. £10,000 pa per turbine. No wonder the Duke was there.
Let’s not applaud SPR contributing £12K to two local communities, let’s deride them for treating the local community so shabbily. The council and Argyll estates should defend a more realistic planning gain, and not allow a bigger picture with the potential of a £6BN investment on the Argyll Array to influence their judgement.
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This is very interesting. I work for Fyne Homes and through one of our subsidiaries we are leading a community wind farm development in South Kintyre whereby we will be constructing two 1MW turbines which will probably make in excess of £10M each over a 20 year period. We have recently held two community consultation events to establish what the key priorities are for the local community. These were well attended and a number of important suggestions were made and we will endeavour to meet these as far as possible. Even at this very early stage ( and a lot of work has still to be done) I am absolutely confident that we will be able to put a significantly higher sum of money forward than £12,000 pa.
In large commercial wind farm developments would it not be appropriate to require the developer to transfer the ownership of one of the turbines to the local community? This would of course require local people to be effectively organised on the ground in order to ensure that the money is spent wisely.
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The facts may be correct but the time line has not been ignored. The community deal in question was done almost a decade ago. It is unfair to compare it with what is available today. Another wind farm development currently being built on the other side of Inveraray will net the town nothing because community funds were not common place when this development was approved over a decade ago. Some of these wind farms take a long time before they break ground and I am sure the community council did their best for the community at the time of the planning application when these fund deals are completed.
As for part ownership etc, these are all very modern partnership developments and as welcome as they are, these mechanism simply did not exist or were not known about when this application progressed through planning. If a development came before the council today it would be a different matter altogether given the precedents that have followed this planning approval.
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@Peter MacDonald: One turbine would work in so far as it is a fixed asset for the community. But I think Fintry ‘notionally’ own the one turbine and in fact are allocated a percentage of the entire installation’s income pre-profit. £12K + pa from 2 turbines for the community sounds great — getting to the sort of levels it should per MW/h in my opinion.
@John Patrick: So perhaps I was a little harsh on those who negotiated the terms of the Clachan Flats deal. But I think the initial criticism stands: the community has been ripped off.
We now know what windfarm developers make from these installations, we can see the leverage communities can wrest for themselves now, and we also know that the demand for viable sites is not going to slacken off for a while yet. Part of this whole process should be a statutory planning gain for communities based on a percentage of the pre-tax profit that a windfarm makes. Let’s say 10% for arguments’ sake, and then let’s back date it to the earliest windfarm developments.
This would not preclude the modern community partnership deals, as they would be subject to the same levy, nor would it mean that windfarm developers would be pauperised, it would simply be another cost they have to absorb into the business model — and believe me when I say 10% of profit will not prevent any windfarm from going ahead.
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I believe the community benefit payments are currently in the range of £1000 to £5000 per installed MW of capacity. The point made about a scarce resource (sites) and high demand (developers) is a very good one.
Wind projects with the support of the local community can proceed much faster and easier with local support. Where local people are opposing a development such as in Lewis and Shetland – environmental considerations are often high on the list of reasons for objecting – innapropriate siting, loss of habitat, damage to peat habitat which releases Co2 and the like.
Interestingly, money alone is not enough to get people to drop these environmental concerns.
In Shetland where I live, there are plans to build a 150 turbine, 540MW wind farm – the largest in Europe. A local council controlled charity/trust has a 45% stake in the project, with potential profits/losses to match. However about 75% of people in Shetland oppose the project, despite promises of community benefit of millions per year.
Some communities have certainly sold out too cheep, but there is a lot more to larger wind developments than a simple £ per MW calculation.
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