£1.6 million bank deal for community turbine 18/6/13
Galson Energy Ltd., the renewable energy subsidiary of Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn
(Galson Estate Trust), has secured a £1.6 million loan from the Co-operative Bank
which will enable its first turbine to be delivered and installed at Ballantrushal
in North Lewis later this year.
Access improvement works are now underway while the turbine supplier, Enercon, is manufacruing the turbine components which will be shipped to Stornoway harbour in August.
Carola Bell, chair of Galson Energy Ltd., commented: “It is a major relief to secure
the loan funds from The Co-operative Bank during this very challenging period and
represents another significant milestone in the process to complete the first wind
turbine at Ballantrushal.
“There has been eight years of significant volunteer effort to reach this point and it is very encouraging now to be drawing close to installation of the turbine.”
The turbine is a 900kW capacity wind generator with a 55 metre height to the hub at the top of the tower. A similar turbine is installed in Shawbost and as the one in North Tolsta.
The community landlord has full planning permission for three wind turbines at Ballantrushal. The total project cost of the first turbine phase is £2.4 million with other funds sourced from various parties including BIG Lottery Fund, Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme and Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn itself.
Provision of the Co-
Recent difficulties within the Co-operative Bank created significant challenges for
Galson Energy Ltd. in closing the loan at a very late stage in proceedings, which
was very frustrating for trustees, directors and staff at Galson. Various payments
and preparatory works on site are typically required in advance of turbine delivery
and timescales for key suppliers had become very tight over recent weeks.
The construction contract access roads, hardstanding and laydown areas, electrical
substation and electrical/telecoms cabling - has been awarded to Prelec Ltd., a well-recognised
name in wind farm contracting over recent years.
The contractor team includes two island-based businesses, North West Aggregates,
based in Borve, providing civil engineering services, and Total Design from Back
carrying out engineering design tasks. The team is completed by Green Cat Renewables,
a sister company of Prelec Ltd., acting in a project management capacity.
Construction and electrical preparation works are scheduled to run into early August
and will be followed by turbine delivery and installation commencing in mid-August
over a further six week period.
The turbine is expected to be commissioned and producing electricity to the National Grid by the end of September.
A contract for the sale of electricity to the market has been concluded with Co-op
Energy and this will be its first community wind customer. This arrangement is particularly
attractive to Galson Energy as it provides monthly income flows which will be critical
in the early stages of operation when cash flow will be a major challenge.
Parent company, Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn, has been canvassing households across
the Galson Estate area on priorities for investing the future wind energy income
over the long -term. There has been a good response to this community consultation
and summary results are now available on www.galsontrust.com.