This is a CTP of initiative: Transition Bro Gwaun (UK)
This CTP relates to the development of a community owned wind turbine. The turbine is 50% owned by Transition Bro Gwaun and 50% by a local landowner. Through the feed-in tariff, it will generate an income stream for TBG which is going to be used for a locally focused ‘low carbon regeneration fund’. It may also be used to cross subsidize other Transition Bro Gwaun projects such as the Transition café (see CTP 105).
In the summer of 2011, Transition Bro Gwaun began to look into a wind energy project. Support was received from the Welsh Government’s Local Energy Programme, This provided funding to allow Transition Bro Gwaun to test the feasibility of a couple of different local sites: one to the north of the urban area and one to the south. They were assessing issues such as access to and ownership of land, etc. The £40K development costs covered from the Welsh government was critical in getting the project going. Otherwise, they would have to resort to asking the investors -something which would have been very difficult.
They chose to focus on one site south east of Fishguard. An in-depth feasibility study was then undertaken for that specific site. That took them into early 2013.
Ever since Transition Bro Gwaun was established, they have had a stall at the weekly farmers market. They advertised there that they were looking at that particular site for a wind turbine. They put up the photo-montages that had been prepared for the planning process. This granted the opportunity for an “informal consultation” at the market every Saturday. They had a piece of paper where people could sign up to show their support for the project.
They didn’t hold a public meeting because they were aware that wind was a potentially sensitive issue and that there were people who were not likely to be supportive. Instead, the nearest they came to a formal consultation was when the Environment Wales project development officer came to the traditional Thursday market and they organized a survey of people going into the market asking them about their preference for wind turbines and attitudes relating to community ownership. Half were concerned about visual impact of the potential turbine but this concern significantly decreased if community ownership was involved.
When they were ready for planning, they had two open days. These were advertised in the local press. In total, around a dozen people turned up to these.
There wasn’t great opposition but there was some (see below).
In August 2013, a planning application was submitted for a 250KW turbine with a mast height of 30m. In the planning stage, there were objections but they had also canvassed for support, which outweighed the opposition.
However, in January 2014 the application was turned down by the committee - after being recommended for refusal by the planning officer primarily on visual grounds. They subsequently went on to appeal the decision – supported, once more, through funding from Environment Wales. Finally, in August 2014, the Planning Inspector announced that he had overturned the county planning officer’s opinion.
They had a year to put it up to be eligible for the Feed in Tariff that was available at the time of registration. It was operational by the end of August 2015.
The wind (as a resource) is obviously a part of this CTP. The best site in terms of wind didn’t turn out to be appropriate because the neighbours weren’t happy and the landowner was not keen. But the adjacent landowner was supportive of Transition and was asked if they were interested in putting up a turbine in partnership with her son.
The landowner (Parc-y- Morfa ltd) owns 50% and Transition Bro Gwaun own the other 50%. They set up two companies, Transition Community ventures which is a subsidiary of TBG and that has a 50% share of the turbine company which owns and operates the turbine.
They raised £285K through local loans. This was all they needed. The fallback position was a loan from the Welsh government.
There are 29 local individual investors. Half were probably on the general mailing list because that is where their publicity was mostly focused. But they also have three group lenders. Two are agriculturally based. One is the local show committee, the local ploughing committee, and a local chapel. These three put in ¼ of the needed budget between them. Loans were a minimum of £1,000. They have 9 at 1K, 21 at higher amounts, and the three groups (33 lenders in total).
An energy sub-group took the project forward. Four of five people on that group, including a gentleman with an experience of a lot of wind projects - including owning his own 50kw turbine. When they got to the planning stage, he resigned from the committee but they then contracted him to project manage the project. Through this role, he liaised with the various agencies (e.g. relating to installation).
Upon receipt of the negative outcome from the tidal energy feasibility study (undertaken in mid 2011) (see CTP 106), they began to think about a different kind of energy project,and wind was the obvious choice.
The fact that there weren’t many other turbines in existence might have worked in their favour as there was less debate aboutwhat is the appropriate amount within a particular area.
They are planning to set up a low carbon community regeneration fund with the income stream from the turbine. This will be modest until they have repaid the loan capital (£4,000 a year to start with, but, after year 8, this contribution will significantly increase to £40,000 per annum). They are registering for gift aid so that theprofits can be gift aided to Transition Bro Gwaun.
The opposition to the turbine was organized by a county-wide group who went door to door with a questionnaire or petition. Furthermore, some objections were raised over the course of the planning process. Nonetheless, most people appeared to be neutral.
The agent who was working on the project was not popular with one of the other transition activists because of another project that he was working on. This may have caused some internal conflict. have caused some internal conflict.
Since the turbine has been in operation, only one local resident has raised an issue relating to the noise of the turbine.
There was an organized opposition group https://www.facebook.com/STOP-North-Pembs-Wind-Turbines-SNPWT-350584255010514/
Finally, Pembrokeshire National Park objected to the project. They were the only statutory body that did.
It definitely felt like a significant CTP because it was not an easy process to get through the planning and development process and to get the turbine up and running. Indeed, many community projects have failed due to the planning issues around onshore wind in the UK.
It contributed to the goals of Transition Bro Gwaun by raising awareness and by being an obvious symbol of renewableenergygeneration. They are hoping that they can also use the income to further their objectives. How they will actually go about doing this is up for debate, but this income will, at least: a) give them some form of financial security, and b) promises to also benefit the broader community. The discussion about how the income will be allocated will, most definitely, make for an interesting situation.
One key lesson learnt by developing and delivering this project was to keep fighting and move forward and not to be put off by any setbacks or challenges. For even though the original objection to the project was very tenuous (exaggerating the visual impact of the development), they were able to successfully introduce the wind turbine.
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