MISSION STATEMENT
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| The Government's financial and planning framework for renewable energy provides excellent opportunities for community wind power schemes. All that is needed is the motivation and determination to put them into practice.
The Community Wind Power Network offers FREE ADVICE for those seeking to
start community wind power ventures. The network is strictly a non-profit
initiative. It is independent of any commercial organisation. Important
health warning – all of the advice and information on this website is general advice –
if you intend to plan a project yourself make sure you have a
sound project yourself – We cannot accept financial
liability for projects or parts thereof! |
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Community wind power means local ownership of wind power schemes. This can be achieved through locally inspired projects being financed by share offers, with preference given to local demand for share ownership.
These can be organised by Energy4All, an offshoot of Baywind Co-operative. The schemes can be inspired by either enthusiastic farmers or local community groups, or preferably a mixture of these two things. See the page
'Planning your community wind
power project'. Locally owned wind power, either through farmer
ownership or co-operative ownership, makes up half of onshore wind power
capacity in Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands. This produces a less
controversial planning environment for wind power and ensures that the
income for the projects goes back to the local economy. See page on 'Ownership
of Onshore Wind Power'.
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- The Government's Renewable Obligation offers a potentially good stream of income to community-financed commercial wind power schemes in the
2 MW to 6 MW range of capacity. Landowners will receive royalty payments
expressed as a percentage of income from electricity sales. The
shareholders will receive dividends and also enjoy the prospect of
their original investment being repaid at the end of the project's
lifetime. For more information on some financial aspects of community
wind power aspect, see the page on
'Financing of community
wind power' and for a basic organisational picture see the page on 'Co-operative
Democracy'
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| Schemes organised by local people, where there is an active locally based campaign to support the proposal, and where ordinary people actually own and derive profits from the scheme, are
likely to reduce planning controversy. They are overtly supported supported by Government policy: |
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- (vii) Local planning authorities, regional stakeholders and Local Strategic Partnerships should foster community involvement in renewable energy projects and seek to promote knowledge of and greater acceptance by the public of prospective renewable energy developments that are appropriately located
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| This means that Local Authority Planning Officers should give special assistance to community wind power schemes. One way of doing this is to identify ways in which the costs of making applications for planning permission for community wind power schemes can be minimised. See our planning pages for more details of planning issues,
'wind power and
planning outcomes' and 'Planning your community
wind power project'. |
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| What you can do to help |
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| You can best further the cause by helping develop a scheme yourself! You
could do this as a landowner or as a local activist who forms a group to
start a scheme. You can also help by writing a letter to your MP asking that grants be given to co-operatives and other community organisations wishing to establish locally owned wind power schemes. See the letter which we sent to the Parliamentary Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources Group (Chair, Alan Whitehead MP) which gives some details. These grants (say around £40,000 each) could pay for planning application costs and wind speed measuring costs. Currently no feasibility grants are avaialble from the 'Clear Skies' fund which is mostly focused on helping community groups set up very small renewable energy projects. If you have the right sort of expertise you
can give advice on technical or planning issues. You could also offer sponsorship cash to the network to
support its activities or you could offer general assistance (eg helping
at promotional events). See our page 'Being a Sponsor'
for more details of
how to do this. Now read the pages in the web site, and if you then think
you can help and you want further information, fill in the 'Response
Form'. There are lots of financial opportunities for landowners and
local investors in well organised community windfarms. However, in
addition, what needs to power the community wind power movement is the
sort of IDEALISM that is in evidence in the wind power industry on
the continent. It is a very sad fact that apart from activists
involved in campaigns like 'YES2WIND'
and initiatives such as 'RENEW'
magazine (and of course,Energy4All) most of the voluntary effort on wind
power in this country is directed at opposing wind power schemes! Let us
reverse this trend! The Community Wind Power Network is about combining
voluntary idealistic effort with sound commercialism. If we can do that we
shall make the basis of the wind industry more diverse, greatly increase
wind power capacity and increase political support for wind power in the
UK. |
