Wind developer to reward land partners with free or discounted energy.
West Coast Energy has announced a new opportunity for landowners who partner with the wind energy developer on small to medium sized wind energy installations. West Coast Energy will offer its project development expertise and financial strength as well as a guaranteed income stream or discounted energy to landowners over a project’s lifespan, in return for rights to erect a wind turbine on their property.
The launch of the new discounted energy scheme coincides with the Royal Highland Show, the annual country and agriculture show, being held between the 24 and 27 June in Edinburgh. West Coast Energy will be present at the event, and on hand to answer any questions landowners may have regarding the scheme and renewable energy sources.
The proposition is based upon the developer taking on all of the financial, technical and planning risk associated with a project. Confident in its 14 plus successful years in the onshore wind energy development sector, West Coast Energy seeks to engage landowners with space to accommodate individual wind turbines with a rated capacity of 100kW-to 1.5MW. Such a development could produce up to 3,500MWh of renewable electricity, which could be used on site as well as exported to the local grid supply network.
West Coast Energy is keen to communicate that its extensive in-house expertise and experience in key areas such as grid connection, wind measurement, planning and turbine procurement will ensure smooth progress through the development process. This offers the landowner chance to be completely ‘hands-off’ during a project including the operational and decommissioning stages, but still benefit from two decades of reduced energy costs or a diversified income.
Richard Fearnall, Development Manager, West Coast Energy, comments: “We are hoping that our proposition will make good environmental and business sense to landowners. The recently launched Feed-in Tariff scheme will have caught the attention of those with the potential to consider a medium sized wind development, but there are still many technical and financial barriers to overcome. We hope that our proposal will not just be of interest to farmers and landowners, but to businesses and community groups as well”.
“West Coast Energy can provide those looking for a development partner with the funds, experience and expertise to capitalise on this opportunity. Our partners will share the commercial benefit of schemes through improved energy costs or a stable income stream.”
Source: West Coast Energy