Arrival of first community-
The first community owned, revenue generating wind turbine in the Western Isles is to arrive this Saturday.
Installation of the 900 kilowatt turbine by Shawbost, Lewis, marks the final milestone
in the pre-
Horshader Community Development is a charitable trust originally set up in May 2005
to plan, build and run a community wind project for the people of South Shawbost,
Dalmore and Dalbeg. It got £1.8 million financing from the Co-
Kathleen MacDonald, Community Energy Scotland’s officer based in Stornoway said: “The Horshader project has overcome many a hurdle to get to this stage and is something the group should be extremely proud of. CES have enjoyed working with the group throughout this time and look forward to continuing this support over the coming months.’
The project created its first job in January of this year, with the Horshader Community Trust appointing Angela Macleod as a development officer to ensure that the funds generated by the community turbine are distributed according to the outcomes identified by the local community.
Ms Macleod said: ‘It is all systems go now. Foundations works are complete on site and we have the road access established. The site has one of the best possible wind resources in the UK and will help fund our community needs to improve life here for the next generation and hopefully reduce depopulation."
David Wright, who has been a leading force in Horshader Community Development for nearly a decade added ‘this is a massive achievement for the trust, it has been a long hard road with many difficulties, we were the first community in the Western Isles to start work on a wind project and it is only fitting that we will now have the very first community owned revenue generating wind energy scheme’.
The Enercon turbine is due to arrive at Stornoway's No 3 pier on Saturday and will be delivered to the site next week.