Edinburgh Community Wind Turbine in Public Funding Vote
One of the crucial ways in which we can reclaim our economy is through ownership of renewable generation facilities, like solar and wind projects. In Portobello and Leith local groups have been developing the first community owned wind turbine scheme in Scotland (and maybe the UK -let us know if you are aware of others). Here’s the press release seeking support in the Energyshare funding competition.
“A community wind turbine project led by two Edinburgh voluntary groups has made it through to the final round of public voting in a UK-wide competition to win up to £100,000. The project, led by PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith, aims to build Scotland’s first community-owned urban wind turbine on Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works in Edinburgh. Only 19 projects have made it into the final round of voting on Energyshare.com, and the Edinburgh wind turbine is one of only two Scottish projects listed.
When online voting ends on 3 December the four most popular projects will be awarded up to £100,000 each for their renewables scheme. The community groups are now appealing for support for the Edinburgh project, which can be registered online at the energy share website until 3 December.
Commenting, Eva Schonveld, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said “We’re delighted to be in the final round of public voting with a good chance of receiving backing from Energyshare.com. If we win the public vote by 3 December, the project will take a big step towards reality. Not only will this wind turbine provide resources for community projects in the area, we hope it will become an inspiration for other communities to do the same. I would ask everyone: please, vote for the Portobello and Leith Community Wind Energy Project on the energy share website before the 3rd of December.”
Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said, “PEDAL and Greener Leith have worked hard to develop this project. If it goes ahead it will bring material benefits to the local area, as well as generating clean energy and providing an inspiring visual focus for real sustainability on Edinburgh’s seafront. Clearly there is much still to do, not least in consulting fully with those who will be affected, but if we win the Energyshare.com vote, we will have the funds in place to take this exciting project to planning submission. We urge all Edinburgh residents who support renewable energy to log on to www.energyshare.com/voting and give this vital project your backing now.”
Portobello and Leith Community-owned Wind Turbine is a brilliant project that will benefit some 80,000 people in North Edinburgh, now with over 2000 supporters. It does however continue to need your votes till 3rd December to have a chance to come first in the Energyshare contest for £80k in funding Please vote now:
http://www.energyshare.com/portobello-leith-community-wind-energy-project/
CoRE have been helping communities in Northern England with some interesting projects like this:
http://www.corecoop.net/
What I find exciting is the potential of these projects to empower communities over the next few decades, something the left should be working on hard. These are the factors which may lead to this:
1) significant increase in carbon price under ETS
2) significant increase in oil prices
2) significant increase (30%) in demand for electricity due to certain technologies replacing others (e.g. electrification of transport system)
3) grid parity for technologies which can be owned by communities over the next 10 years (wind, and in some cases PV)
There is a significant % of our electricity supply which could be generated this way. In Denmark, 20% of their electricity is from wind of which 80% is generated by community projects.