Gigha scoops three environmental awards

• Friday, 09 December 2005

Windfarm profit goes into community housing

The community-owned Isle of Gigha won three awards yesterday, 8 December, for its groundbreaking windfarm.

The first award is the Scottish Green Energy Award for the Best Community Initiative. It was also highly commended in the Environment and Community Life categories of the Calor Scottish Community of the Year Awards 2005.

The community-owned Isle of Gigha has the only community-owned grid-connected wind farm of its kind in the UK. The wind turbines have made an important contribution to the standard of living of the islanders. Gigha has been able to invest the profits from the windfarm and complete the first phase of a housing improvement programme for its residents.

There are 41 properties and they have been in state of disrepair for 30 years. The programme means the first six of these have already refurbished and the islanders are starting on the next six houses.

It is almost a year since local school children switched on the ‘Dancing Ladies’, as the windmills were dubbed affectionately by the islanders. The islanders are now on target to reach their goal of £159,000 for the year, which would net them a profit of £60,000 after expenses and loan repayments.

“We are delighted with the way it’s worked out,” says Andy Clements, chairman of Gigha Renewable Energy, which was set up to build and manage the windfarm. “There have been no major faults. Our windfarm has generally run itself and made us a profit which we are ploughing back into vital projects such as refurbished housing for our community.”

The island is now self-sufficient in energy and sells all the electricity to the renewable energy company Green Energy UK. The island is able to export 25 per cent to the National Grid.

Green Energy UK’s approach to long term sustainability resonates well with the community’s aims. The company has pledged to give away half its company in shares to its customers and the Trust has also received shares. Any Gigha customer who converts to Green Energy UK also receives shares in the company.

The choice of energy partner was important for Gigha Renewable Energy, which believes it made a wise choice in associating itself with a smaller company.

“We’re extremely pleased with Green Energy,” says Andy Clements. “Establishing a windfarm can be a fairly complicated business with SROCs (Scottish Renewable Obligation Certificates) and embedded benefits. Green Energy UK was there from the beginning to advise and support and Ramsay Dunning, the financial director, was always ready at the end of the phone. They are very helpful and even gave us a price increase in spite of our three year contract with them!”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing though. Just a month into the project, lightening struck one of the turbines. The extent of the damage was not, however, discovered until two weeks later when a meter was also found to be damaged. During that time none of electricity generated by the other two turbines was being recorded.
“That point was the low in the year,” remembers Andy Clements. “We felt that things were not as good as we’d hoped. We couldn’t afford the downtime or the loss of money. It turned out to be highly complex and took over a month to resolve.”

What then was the high point during all this time? “When we saw the foundations going down, the sections of the turbine were brought in and we finally saw it all happening - that was very exciting,” says Andy. “The whole island was out watching the trucks.”

The contractors engaged the community fully and organised trips for the school children and a windmill washing day for the islanders. Everyone came out to scrub the blades which had been covered in grit and sand during transit. “This made the whole thing come alive and also gave us a real sense of ownership,” continues Andy.

Gigha has now become a leading authority on community owned windfarms and held a conference last June with speakers from Green Energy UK, the planning authority, the construction company and technical advisors. The conference was highly successful and widely attended by communities from all over Scotland and the UK. The Trust is considering holding another one next year if there is continued demand.

The energy solution Gigha developed combined grant funding with loan and equity finance secured at commercial rates. The company simply pays back the loan and buys back the equity within five years. It is expected that by the end of the fifth year all loans and repayments will have been made, with a resulting profit of £150,000. By year eight, the Trust anticipates that it will have built up a capital re-investment fund sufficient to replace the machines without recourse to further financing.

The windmills have helped secure a better future for the islanders. They allow the island to achieve sustainability financially, environmentally and socially.


- ends -

Issued by:
Maclaine Communications:
Eva Maclaine
T: 020 8372 1831
E: mail@maclainecom.com

On behalf of:
Green Energy (UK) plc: The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust
Ramsay Dunning Lorna Andrews
T: 01920 486156 T: 01583 505388
E: pressq@greenenergy.uk.com E: admin@gigha.org.uk
W: www.greenenergy.uk.com W: www.gigha.org.uk

Further contacts:
For Calor Awards: Ashley@prpartnership.co.uk
For Scottish Green Energy Awards: alex.h@bigpartnership.co.uk

9 December 2005

Notes to editors:

1. Photographs are available on request from Eva Maclaine 020 8372 1832 or mail@maclainecom.com

2. Prior to community ownership Gigha had been in serious decline. With a population almost halved since the 1970’s and a school roll fallen to just 6, Gigha had one of the highest rates of population decline of any Scottish island. The residents of Gigha created a development plan detailing what was to be done and, after three years, with 23 new homes being built, an island-wide housing improvement programme underway, an island quarry established, upgrading of the hotel, restructuring of the farmland and repayment of £1.15 million debt, the fortunes of Gigha have been reversed. The population has increased by 30 per cent to 130, young people and families are moving back and the school roll has increased to 15.

3. The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust is run by a locally-elected board of directors who make recommendations to the Trust membership. Final decisions on all important community matters are taken by democratic vote by all members.

3. The three 225kW machines on the southern tip of the island are placed to maximise use of the wind and generate approximately 2.1 gigawatts of electricity per year. Each turbine stands on a 30 metre tower and has a swept area blade diameter of 27 metres.

4. Green Energy UK is leading the way with a radical business model which encourages wider share ownership. It is giving away half of its business in shares – the first 100,000 customers are getting 400 shares each. It is also:
• ploughing back half its profits in renewable energy technologies, such as biomass, solar power, wind farms and tidal facilities.
• saving over 15,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from going into the atmosphere.
• one of only 55 companies to have Ethical Company Accreditation, which certifies that it has scored highly in an overall analysis of its corporate social responsibility record.

5. Housing
Housing is a priority for Gigha as their homes have been seriously neglected by private landlords for many years. The Scottish Rural Housing Association which carried out a housing survey in 2003, established that of the 41 houses in Trust ownership, 80 per cent were below tolerable standard, with the remainder in serious need of repair. The SRHA also identified a need for new housing on the island.

A partnership was established between the Trust and Fyne Homes, the housing association for the Kintyre and South Argyll area. An architect was appointed to design the Fyne Homes housing and to oversee the Trust housing renovations. A building consortium took on the refurbishment programme for the Trust properties and the Fyne Homes new-build.

Funds for the renovation programme were sought for and provided by a number of bodies – Argyll & Bute Council, HIE (through their SCHRI programme), Energy Savings Trust, and the Dunfermline Building Society (loan funds).

The housing renovation programme began in October 2004, and work on the first eight Fyne Homes houses began on site in March 2005. To date, six Trust house renovations have been completed, eight Fyne Homes houses are due for completion in October 2005, and three private houses have been completed (one funded by a Rural Home Ownership Grant). Two RHOG-funded private houses are about to start, the next four house renovations will begin in September 2005, and ten more Fyne Homes houses will go on site in 2006.

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