Part ownership of a Ripple Wind Turbine, fancy it?

[nowty]

Oh dear, WT1 is off for 2 days, latest from ripple,

"There are grid works happening near Graig Fatha so the turbine won't be able to export for a couple of days. We will update you as soon as we get any further information. Apologies for the earlier message which said the grid works were complete - there was a miscommunication our end."

[Mr Gus]

Whilst they cannot do anything for timing of the works you would have expected ripple to be factually correct first time out.

The FFSunhats count is climbing.

[nowty]

WT1 generating again, in fact the historic generation shows it must have been generating for at least some of the time over the past 2 days.

[Mr Gus]

WT1 generating again, in fact the historic generation shows it must have been generating for at least some of the time over the past 2 days.

Graig Fatha Grid Update
The turbine operator has confirmed that Graig Fatha has been generating since yesterday afternoon. The comm's equipment needs to be reset after the grid works and a service team will be there this afternoon. Hopefully we'll be able to give you generation visibility again shortly.

[Joeboy]

Looks like KH will be delayed until early 24 for energisation.

Kirk Hill member update March 2023


Work is progressing well, despite challenging weather conditions. Although we'll never complain about it being too windy, this month's update from Jamie is coming to you from inside his car down on site.

Watch: March Kirk Hill update
Members asked us to create a map of the Kirk Hill site so they can better understand the areas Jamie references. So we've created this video guide. It also shows you a 3D impression of what the site will look like once completed.







Project timeline update

Here's a snap shot of what's to come over the next few months:

Now: Road widening works commenced in February and will continue through to May
April: The turbine foundations are now being readied and we hope to complete the concrete pour - here are some photos below


July: Turbines arriving on site
Aug: Grid connection works begin
Sept: Substation buildings completed
Oct: Grid connection communication works begin
Early 2024 - energisation and final commissioning of turbines

The intention was always for the turbines to start operating this calendar year, and we've been putting in huge effort to try to make this happen. Whilst we are making great strides on site and things are on-track for the turbines to arrive and go up this summer, we now expect there is likely to be a delay associated with the grid connection which is beyond our control. We expect this work to be completed early 2024. The delay is not definitely going to happen, but we felt it is sufficiently likely to raise it with you.

The grid connection is the responsibility of the District Network Operator (DNO), which in this case is SP Energy Networks. We've been holding regular meetings with them throughout the build since we acquired the site. As the UK accelerates the roll-out of renewable energy, there are dozens of wind and solar sites in the Southwest of Scotland alone that are looking to connect in 2023 and 2024. Therefore SP Energy Networks are facing huge challenges at the moment. They also face some specific challenges not seen previously in relation to lead times for certain bits of equipment required for the grid connection which has been impacted by the global chip shortage. We've worked with them across a number of areas which has drastically reduced lead times and already helped mitigate delays by several months. Rest assured we will continue to do so.

We are working towards securing a confirmed energisation date and we will keep you informed as we progress throughout the year.
All the best,

[Mr Gus]

Thank god they've fixed the abortion that was the project timeline.

There will be dummy spitting & blind reading of the phrase "may or may not happen"

[Mr Gus]

What I am disappointed with is the potential for funding bollox pamphlets for decades to come..

Based on Graig fatha, £150,000+ in good cause monies.

That = £165.38 per WT1 member that is funding "stuff" ..from what I saw it pays for people to offer advice (likely a copy of everything already out there on the web + pamphlets on avoiding fuel poverty.

Could that money, or a decent wedge of it maybe go into the same sort of thing that we get back? which is more long term funding via more renewables energy production? £150,000 is a lot of solar panels, a big investment back into rippple turbines etc.

That makes more sense to me, that a community nearby could get the same sort of reductions we will see, like I've said before "x" years would be 1x turbine that was a regional asset.

If we look at what 8 turbines are going to do that's their own singular turbine in a year or so, ...makes more sense to me & keeps the ball rolling.
(£150,000 x 8 = 1.2 million per annum) ..If I were a local council being offered that opportunity to green up i'd be a very happy chap, it would get councils thinking on a different level for applications & community advantage for decades to come placed in their laps.

[nowty]

Gus, practically all of that £150k is the Welsh Governments share which is going to help fuel poverty. Remember, they own about 1/3 of the turbine, what they do with it is their business, but it may well go to putting solar panels on schools or social housing.

The Community Benefit Fund which does come out of our surplus profits is £5k, so thats about a fiver per member.

[Mr Gus]

Ok, thanks for the info Nowty, I have to use WT1 as a running example (right or wrong) as its all there is, so it's 1 versus 8 in what they produce for community benefit, ..as you clearly know more than me round this, how does it look for charity et al for project 2 ?

If it truly is a "ripple effect" then creating more value is surely the move to make when negotiating sites?

[nowty]

Ok, thanks for the info Nowty, I have to use WT1 as a running example (right or wrong) as its all there is, so it's 1 versus 8 in what they produce for community benefit, ..as you clearly know more than me round this, how does it look for charity et al for project 2 ?

For Kirk Hill the Community Benefit Fund is more than double pro rata at £94k per year.