The Kintyre Forum

I noticed the entry in the Events page of the Forum tonight for an Open Day in Feb in respect of this wind farm development. The associated links led me to read the company's background information and I tried to send them an email asking for clarification on some of their figures, but alas only got 2 email failures for the email address quoted in their literature. So I have copied my email below in the hope that somebody from the company will see it and respond on the Forum:

"Hello there, I live a bit further down the coast from Glenbarr and read of your invite to an open day in February, which I applaud and will certainly attend.

I have read your Newsletter with interest and would welcome your comments on the following observations:

1. You claim an annual output of 273mwh from the installed capacity of 78mw. Simple maths indicates that this assumes a 40% efficiency of output. Even the pro renewables British Wind Energy Association only recommends an efficency factor of 30% when calculating output for publicity purposes (http://www.bwea.com/edu/calcs.html), which would give an annual output of 205 mwh. The ROC returns from nearby Tangy windfarm show a maximum annual output of only 22% from its most productive ever year. Will you please adjust the information on your website and at the open day to a more genuine figure?

2. You claim that the windfarm will power 58,000 homes based on the 273mwh output. I know that this uses the UK household consumption figure of 4,700kwh annual consumption. The Scottish household consumption figure is 5,200kwh and using the BWEAs generous output figure this means that little over 39,000 Scottish homes would be powered by this development. Again I ask you to amend you figures to a more honest outcome.

3. I note that the development will generate £234k annual community benefit. Please will you confirm that at the current level of onshore wind ROC subsidy of £49 per mwh and at the BWEAs output figure, you (or whover eventually develops the site) will receive an annual ROC subsidy income of £10.25 million? Please will you tell the community the amount of ROC subsidy that will be attracted so that the level of community benefit will be put in context?

4. I note that 2 of the 125m high turbines will be within 1km of the A83 and the nearby Glenbarr School and 5 within 2km of the village. You will be aware of the SPP6 Planning legislation that relates in part to the proximity of windfarm turbines to habitations, please can you explain your company's position in relation to the application of that legislation and these proposed turbines.

Recently our community defeated SSE's plans for an offsore windfarm in Kintyre and the community was very united against it. One of the reasons was they were peturbed by the inflated claims made for that scheme and consequently had scant faith in that developer's promises.

Kind regards
Bob Miller

jowett63 wrote:Recently our community defeated SSE's plans for an offsore windfarm in Kintyre and the community was very united against it.

Was it? I would have thought the excellent debate on here (which ran to over 500 posts) would have indicated something other than a "very united" stance by the community?

Your letter is fact-based and objective until that point, therefore the sentence could be construed as factual - as opposed to your (subjective) opinion.

"Recently SSE's plan for an offshore windfarm was rejected, and several members of the local community were against it." ...... would probably be a more accurate statement?

I don't want to re-ignite the entire SSE Machrihanish Bay debate, this is simply a comment on your letter - which is very good

Finally, was "offsore windfarm" a freudian slip

Dear Mr. Miller

I apologise that you have had difficulty in contacting Burcote Wind with your specific questions concerning the Creggan Wind Farm proposal. There has been a technical issue with the email address provided on the project website and this has now been amended. Please direct any future correspondence to enquiries@burcotewind.com and we shall endeavour to answer any specific questions about the project as quickly and accurately as we can.

We would actively encourage anyone interested in the proposal to visit the project website at http://www.cregganwindfarm.com for information and updates about the project or to visit the community engagement event to be hosted at Glenbarr Hall on Thursday the 23rd February between 2pm and 7.30pm.

In reference to the specific questions you have submitted, here is an initial response.

Annual output

Tangy wind farm was originally installed in 2003 then expanded in 2006. Our understanding is that, for compatibility reasons, the additional turbines were installed in 2006 but not brought online until June 2011. On this basis, the annual output in Megawatt-hours for 2006-2011 should be calculated according to the wind farm’s original installed capacity of 12.75 megawatts instead of the expanded capacity of 18.7 megawatts. Since 2006 the capacity factor for Tangy has been de-rated against a higher installed capacity. Publicly accessible figures for the period prior to its expansion show that Tangy wind farm’s capacity regularly exceeded 30%.

The capacity factor for Beinn An Tuirc wind farm has a nine-year average of 30.65% using Vestas V47-660kW turbines. By comparison, the Creggan wind farm proposal comprises the latest high efficiency three megawatt turbines. In the intervening time since the construction of Beinn An Tuirc and Tangy wind farms, the efficiency of turbines has improved dramatically as a result of progress in blade design, components and direct drive technology. Using modern turbines, a capacity factor of 40% is wholly achievable on the Creggan wind farm site, where our desktop studies indicate annual average wind speeds to be in the region of 10 metres per second. On-site wind speeds will be verified over the coming months using data from an anemometer mast.

It is true that the BWEA website calculations use a constant 30% Capacity Factor. That figure is representative of the average Capacity Factor for all wind farms in the UK.

However, the BWEA also states: "This is only an average estimation given that in many places, particularly Scotland and offshore, the wind speeds are higher leading to a greater electricity production per turbine, as power output is a cube of the wind speed."

We have opted to base our calculations for the Creggan wind farm proposal on local wind maps for the Kintyre area, since wind speeds and therefore output is expected to be much higher than the national average.

Homes powered

As with all new wind farms, we would expect Creggan wind farm to supply electricity to the National Grid for use by all UK households. On this basis, we believe it is reasonable to use national figures for the whole of the UK to calculate the equivalent number of homes the wind farm could be expected to power. The number of homes quoted is designed to provide a meaningful illustration of what a defined number of units of electricity represents in terms of day-to-day electricity consumption for most consumers.

Community benefit fund

The community benefit fund currently being proposed to accompany Creggan wind farm is a guaranteed no-risk payment to the local community, calculated on the basis of a fixed sum of £3000 per megawatt of installed capacity, payable each year of the wind farm’s lifetime (limited to 25 years).

Burcote Wind is open to exploring other models for disseminating community benefit. We have started discussions with West Kintyre Community Council and other stakeholders in the local area. We are keen that the wind farm can provide a sustainable economic benefit to the community that can bring jobs, encourage tourism and improve opportunities for young people in the local area.

From publicly available information, we understand that Tangy wind farm provides a community benefit fund of around £8,640 per annum, equivalent to £462 per megawatt of installed capacity, whilst Beinn an Tuirc provides an annual community benefit fund of £21,000, equivalent to £692 per megawatt.

If consented, development of the Creggan wind farm proposal would require an up-front investment of between £90million to £100million. At the same time, a reduction in the ROC subsidy for onshore wind developments to the equivalent of 0.9 ROCs is being considered. The Renewable Obligation Scheme acts as a contribution towards the substantial up-front investment required to develop a wind farm. To put the effect of the RO scheme into context, all renewable energy generation in the UK last year had the effect of adding just £6 to the average electricity bill. The large increases in electricity costs last year came from wildly fluctuating gas prices and the wider deployment of Renewables will help insulate us from these in the future.

Site location

Scottish Planning Policy refers to a guideline separation distance of up to 2km between areas of search for groups of wind turbines and the edge of towns, cities and villages, to reduce visual impact. However, the Policy also states that “Development plans should recognise that the existence of these constraints on wind farm development does not impose a blanket restriction on development, and should be clear on the extent of constraints and the factors that should be satisfactorily addressed to enable development to take place”, and that “decisions on individual developments should take into account specific local circumstances and geography.”

The turbine layout for the Creggan wind farm proposal is indicative at this stage and will go through many iterations before we put forward the final plan in our Planning Application. We will carefully assess any visual and landscape impacts the Creggan wind farm proposal may have and, if necessary, will adjust our proposals in light of the results. The results of the landscape and visual impact assessment will also be included as part of the environmental statement accompanying the planning application. We will also take into account feedback from the local community on the turbine layout and try to accommodate this into the final layout where we can.

Thank you for your interest in the Creggan wind farm proposal. If we can be of any further assistance or if you would like to discuss these points in further detail, please do not hesitate to contact Burcote Wind using the email address: enquiries@burcotewind.com.

Yours sincerely,

Fraser Campbell
Operations Director
Burcote Wind

Nice response. Well done Mr Campbell

I'm curious to know how an industrial windfarm can " ..bring jobs, and encourage tourism.."?

I am also curious as to why this group would visit the local school....perhaps to get the impressionable on side?........cynical of me !

Fraser,

Thanks for coming on and responding in detail to the points my posting about the planned Craggan development - early and sincere engagement on plans that can profoundly affect communities is very welcome.

I take your point about looking at Tangy in terms of the working turbines output but the bottom line however is that the hillside was still dug up the turbines erected and the promises were unfulfilled for the non working ones for many years. I think 30% is a reasonable assumption of output for west coast turbines but I will give you my dog if the ones at Creggan ever reach 40% efficiency over a year and if Tangy proves one thing it is that where wind is concerned developers should always under promise and over deliver.

Re Community benefit yes £3k per Mw installed is good compared to some previous awards but that is more of a comment on the rapaciousness of earlier developers and the lack of organisation and savvy of local and central authorities. I think that as a minimum your company should offer to match the £5k per Mw that the SSE Sustainable energy fund are now offering for wind developments in the Highlands: http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/ ... -30-01.htm
Even at 90% ROC subsidy the development can expect to generate over £220m in subsidy income alone over its lifetime, plus the income from selling the leccy generated....

I understand that the layout of the turbines on your plan are indicative, I also understand that developers like to put some turbines in scary places when they first publish plans so they can offer them up as sacrificial lambs when the planning authorities ask for changes. It is however a relatively small development area for 25 turbines and there are constraints such as proximity turbulence that mean options for resiting are limited, for example to move most of them to the more remote and uninhabited east end of the site. Hence the westerly turbines in particular will be very prominent from the A83 and surrounds, including the Kintyre Way. An additional concern is that unlike Tangy and Beinn the Barr Glenn part of the site is very rich archaeologically.

I look forward to finding out more at the open day though.

When is the open day ?

The following link to another thread should help: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=13335

Do not be fooled... £234,000 per annum community benefit won't even cover the devaluation of property prices in West Kintyre, let alone the other negative economic impacts this development will surely cause.
Burcote claim that the devaluation of property is a myth but the Danish government recognises that property devaluation is a direct consequence of wind turbine developments and have stated that Wind Farm developers must pay homeowners for any property value loss suffered.
http://www.ens.dk/en-us/supply/renewabl ... rside.aspx
Are Burcote prepared to acknowledge this as fact and not a myth and are they prepared to compensate all aggrieved homeowners in the area.
http://www.burcotewind.co.uk/faq/top-10-myths
There is also a proposed development for three more 100 metre turbines near Glenbarr
http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/Planning/ ... 1/02525/PP

Well Democat, judging by the lack of response to your question of myth or fact;

democat101 wrote:Do not be fooled... £234,000 per annum community benefit won't even cover the devaluation of property prices in West Kintyre, let alone the other negative economic impacts this development will surely cause.
Burcote claim that the devaluation of property is a myth but the Danish government recognises that property devaluation is a direct consequence of wind turbine developments and have stated that Wind Farm developers must pay homeowners for any property value loss suffered.
http://www.ens.dk/en-us/supply/renewabl ... rside.aspx
Are Burcote prepared to acknowledge this as fact and not a myth and are they prepared to compensate all aggrieved homeowners in the area.
http://www.burcotewind.co.uk/faq/top-10-myths
There is also a proposed development for three more 100 metre turbines near Glenbarr
http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/Planning/ ... 1/02525/PP

I think the lack of response by anyone from Burcote would suggest that they either do not care to comment or maybe question the veracity of their own statements.
Further to this, all this talk of community benefit is calculated based on the "installed capacity" of the turbine or wind farm. This means that the quoted 'community benefit' figure is based on 100% efficiency. We all know that 100% efficiency does not happen in any event, but more tellingly, independent analysis suggests that wind turbines produce anything between 10% and 30% of installed capacity. Do the maths for yourselves, but suddenly the perceived 'community benefit' does not seem so attractive anymore. Why are these developers not honest about what the realistic figures are? Probably the same reasons that they are not honest about the real costs to the immediate communities! They want to con us all......

Dont forget the open day at Glenbarr Church Hall, next to the garden centre, 2pm - 7pm Thursday 23rd February 2012. I am sure we will be presented with some more glossy twaddle there!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the comments on the forum regarding the Creggan Wind Farm proposal.

I’d like to respond to the specific comments raised by democat101 and North Beachmore.

The effect of Wind Farms on house prices
The commentary on our website quotes summaries from the only two studies we can find that have been undertaken on the issue of whether wind farms affect house prices. One was undertaken by the RICS with the assistance of Oxford Brookes University (http://www.rics.org/site/download_feed. ... ension=PDF) and the other by the Edinburgh Solicitor’s Property Centre (http://www.bwea.com/media/news/070328.html). The findings of both studies suggest that house prices aren’t adversely affected by close proximity to wind farms. We can understand that people may be worried about this issue and we are more than happy to discuss individual cases with local homeowners. To that end I would encourage people who are concerned about the potential impact that the wind farm may have on their properties to contact us to arrange a meeting using the email address above.

We pride ourselves on being a responsible developer and will do whatever we reasonably can to address the concerns of near neighbours to our proposed wind farm.

Community Benefit fund
As stated earlier in this thread: “The community benefit fund currently being proposed to accompany Creggan wind farm is a guaranteed no-risk payment to the local community, calculated on the basis of a fixed sum of £3000 per megawatt of installed capacity, payable each year of the wind farm’s lifetime (limited to 25 years).”
Contrary to the comments by North Beachmore, the fund is not dependent on how much electricity is produced by the wind farm and has no relation to the efficiency of the turbines. Installed Capacity is a set value based on the electrical rating of the generators within the turbines. This means the Community Benefit will be a set amount every year.

Other negative economic impacts
The “other negative economic impacts” weren’t listed, but I’d be happy to provide an appropriate response if a list can be prepared. In the case of Creggan Wind Farm our intention is that proper use of the Community Benefit Fund will create a lasting and sustainable economic future for West Kintyre. Apart from the community benefit fund itself, I have summarised below some of the direct economic benefits the wind farm will bring:

• Inward investment of £90-£100m
• During construction, employment of around 25 to 30 local people and another 10 to 15 turbine engineers using local guest-houses and other facilities.
• We also intend using towers manufactured in the Wind Towers Factory near Machrihanish if at all possible, which would help secure further jobs in South Kintyre.
• During operation, we would anticipate a requirement for between 8-10 maintenance and operational posts.

We are currently in discussions with various local organisations on how the Community Benefit Fund may be used to promote wider economic benefits by supporting learning opportunities for young people, enhancing public facilities in West Kintyre, supporting energy efficiency projects, providing more effective transport links to major towns, providing facilities to attract tourists to the area and supporting local businesses to grow and employ more local people.

Honesty of Developers
We are not in the business of “conning” people. We have an obligation to be factual in all the statements we make regarding our wind farm proposals. We are very careful to quote published statistics and reports from recognised institutions or government. We are completely open and transparent and welcome interest from local people on how our proposals may affect them.

Many thanks again for your interest in the project. If you or any other Kintyre Forum users have further questions about the Creggan wind farm proposal, please contact Burcote Wind directly, using the email address: creggan@burcotewind.com.

Please also take the opportunity to come along to the public exhibition we are hosting at Glenbarr Hall tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, 23rd February), between 2pm and 7.30pm, to find out more about the project.

Yours with thanks,

Fraser Campbell
Operations Director
Burcote Wind

I don't care what "studies" of the impact of wind farms on property prices purport to show, I know I wouldn't buy a house that is close to one and I'm confident I'm not alone in that. Numerous participants in a recent Radio Scotland phone-in expressed similar views and one gentleman was finding it well-nigh impossible to sell his house owing to its proximity to the Whitelee wind farm near Eaglesham. No impact on house prices? Aye, right.

Just wanted to convey some information I was given today - a reliable source told me they had spoken to someone at Burcote Wind, who said that the meeting in Glenbarr Hall is now only on until 5:30pm, instead of 7:30pm. I'm not sure if this is, in fact, correct, but I thought I better pass on what I'd heard!

Thank you for the latest post.

Today's event will run from 2pm until 7.30pm.

Best wishes,

Burcote Wind

Thank you for clarifying this. As I said, they had spoken to someone at your company so maybe there were some crossed wires involved!