A WIND farm developed by a housing association to fund new homes is in the running for a raft of awards.
The new community wind farm in Berwickshire is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.
It is hoped it will generate revenue of £20 million over the next 25 years – enough to allow Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA) to build 500 new homes. It should also produce enough energy to power about 5900 households. The wind farm, which has been named The Fisherman Three, has been shortlisted in the Best Community Project category of the Scottish Green Energy Awards, run by Scottish Renewables.
It is also in the running for the Margaret Blackwood Award for Excellence in Housing Innovation, part of the Excellence Awards run by the Chartered Institute of Housing.
The wind farm was highly commended at the British Renewable Energy Awards, announced earlier this year.
Welcoming the new nominations, BHA’s chief executive Helen Forsyth said the wind farm would not only allow the association to build new homes but would also provide an initial community benefit payment of £37,500 per year.
“This will be given to the communities closest to the wind farm, to be spent on whatever they identify as their priorities,” she said.
Forsyth added: “The idea for the wind farm came when BHA realised we had to be innovative in order to solve the dilemma of how to keep building new homes for social rental, which are so badly needed in this area, at a time when funding for new housing through traditional channels was in decline.
“The wind farm will provide BHA with a reliable, predictable, low-maintenance source of income that will allow us to build a steady stream of new affordable homes at a time when services are all too often being cut.”
Launched earlier this year by Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse, the wind farm near Cockburnspath was granted planning permission in 2012, despite a recommendation for refusal from Scottish Borders Council planning officials on landscape impact and amenity grounds.
Joint developer Community Energy Scotland has said it will use its share of the income from the wind farm to support community groups across the country to develop new renewable energy projects.
Chief executive Nicholas Gubbins said: “The UK energy system is changing and we want to make sure that communities are at the forefront of the opportunities that this will create for new low-carbon energy developments.
“This project will help us to do this, while providing an initial community benefit payment of £37,500 per year which will go to the communities closest to the site.”
The wind farm project has been supported by two main funders: Triodos Bank and the Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) delivered by the Scottish Investment Bank.
Wheelhouse said: “The Fishermen Three wind farm at Hoprigshiels is an exciting project that very ably illustrates our vision of local people benefiting from renewable energy projects installed in their area.
“As someone who lived in the local fishing community of Cove for five years, I love the new link to the area’s fishing heritage.
“ I have also been well aware of BHA’s ambitions to develop the wind farm for many years, so I congratulate Helen Forsyth and the BHA team, and Community Energy Scotland, for achieving the successful delivery of this important project.”
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