FAMILIES on a Scottish island will receive cut-rate power from later this month through a free wind turbine scheme.
Hamsin Wind will install more than 60 single onshore wind turbines across Orkney by the end of the year.
The first phase will begin within weeks, with 20 households and businesses set to benefit.
The scheme will see both 6kw and 15kw turbines installed free of charge, with hosts receiving deeply discounted electricity for at least 20 years.
Hamsin, which is paying both planning and capital costs, will make its money through the feed-in tariff, which sees renewables developers rewarded for the power they generate, and a long-term power purchase agreement which pays for power sales to the grid.
Up to 95 per cent of the energy generated by the turbines is expected to be consumed on site and the power can also be used to heat the home or domestic water supply.
The scheme is also expected to save more than 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, topping 100,000 tonnes over the life of the turbines – the equivalent to removing 20,000 cars from Scotland’s roads.
Measuring no more than 20 metres high, the Kingspan Wind kw6 turbines are manufactured in Scotland and have been specially selected due to their ability to withstand high wind speeds, as well as being sympathetic to the surrounding countryside, are grid connected and easy to erect.
In September, Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) announced that it would invest up to £9 million in Hamsin Wind to roll out 200 small community-based turbines at high wind-speed locations in the Highlands and Islands.
Peter Bachmann, director at SEP, said the area has “vast renewable energy potential” and the project will “help remote communities”.
He added: “With the installation of a 6kw turbine the host is able to save up to £3,000 per annum in electricity costs. Orkney is already one of the world’s greenest islands in terms of renewable energy generation so it was a natural starting point.”
Cameron Garson, from West Stove in Sandwick, is one of the first hosts to be connected and says the installation will make a major difference to his family’s living costs.
The family already has a 20km turbine on their main farm and Garson said: “The 6kw turbine has now been installed on the second farm, which is down the road from the main farm and will also supply us with free electricity.
“We hope this will make us less dependent on the existing oil and central heating that we currently have in the house.”
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