First Rant
Posted: Tuesday, 21 June 2005 |
Comments
You never heard the Raven story? Point (s) taken, adjusted accordingly. Keep us updated on Gigha population!
Mike from Glasgow
Is it true that your windmills wil generate you 拢80,000 a year for the community? Was there a big majority in favour ihn the community about the windfarm?
Susy Sue from Mainland
LOL aye, I'll monitor the population increases/decreases and publish my findings Mike! May i just add that you are doing a marvelous job and you deserve promotion!
Juanita Martino from Gigha
Hi Susy Sue! It's possible that we will generate that amount of revinue per year. So far this year we have produced enough wind-power to sell to the National Grid and bring money back to the island. Yes, I'm pretty certain the majority was high when it came to voting on whether to have the windmills or not. They create revinue for the island to help us continue to flourish, and we all try to work together on these type of projects. We only have 3 windmills and they are fairly small and unobtrusive (personally I find them quite attractive). I really would urge other small communities to explore the possibilities of alternative methods of power. Not only will it contribute to the future of the planet as a whole, but it could create a sense of achievement and unity in small communities (as well as potentially being of financial benefit).
Juanita Martino from The Scorching Isle of Gigha
Personally I liked the thoughts of the bloke who thought Gigha now looked like an enourmous hovercraft!! Money they produce is well appreciated.
Hmmm, Gigha from Silage Field, Northern Reaches of Gigha
Hi Rhoney-rho. Good to get someone from Gigha on the blog. It didn鈥檛 take long for us to get onto the dancing ladies. Your 3 small turbines seem like a reasonable size for a community windfarm. The assumption seems to be that 鈥渃ommunity windfarms鈥 are all great because they seem to work on Gigha. Crucially it does seem to be finically more rewarding for the community compared to the commercial windfarm. I hope that there are surficent second hand turbines and lottery funds to go round for communities wishing to follow the Gigha model. Unlike Gigha there is a bit of a conflict of interests here on Mull and I don鈥檛 know how unifying a windfarm project with be given that only one tenth of the population of Mull are involved. Despite this the intention is to take up all of the islands available grid capacity. The Dervaig Community are keen to erect eight to twelve turbines, each 850kw, on a hill close to the Sea Eagle project. This is despite the fact that the Sea Eagle project brings far more money to the economy of Mull through tourism than will be earned from the windfarm. Seen from a Dervaig perspective a windfarm may well seem like a reasonable risk to take, as it looks more rewarding. Personally I don鈥檛 think Dervaig shooting the rest of the island in the foot is likely to do much for community bonding but I do understand that it could have been a good bonding experience on Gigha. It is possible for people on both sides of this of the windfarm debate to want the best for their island communities. Good luck with the Heritage Trust elections....I hope we will hear all about it.
pondhead from Mull
LOL @ Gigha looking like a hovercraft, just thought about it and AYE it DOES! Get back to yer silage you!(whoever you are lol)
Rhoney-rho from Gigha
Hiya Pondhead, yes I agree that things have worked well here and that may be largely due to the size of the island and the unity of the islanders. It could well prove difficult in larger islands such as Mull or Lewis where they are still divided into various estates. I think one cautionery point must be remembered; and that is not to get swept along by what may currently be percieved as 'fashionable'. If it is truely the right thing to do for the community then do it, but don't rush into it. It can bring some much needed revinue to a community but it takes time, but this shouldn't just be about making money, it's helping the planets future. Getting back to Susy Sue's question regarding income from the windmills...maybe EVENTUALLY we'll make that amount, we had a few hiccups in the first 6 months which slowed things down...拢80,000 a year of pure profit is some way off, but we're heading in the right direction :-) Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
Rhoney-rho from Gigha
RSS Feed