5 30 1 2012-05-05T18:34:26+01:00 150 HyperlocalSite 74974:644605:16055827 480358 2012-04-29T20:41:41+01:00

Portobello and Leith locals show their support for a community owned turbine at Seafield Regular Greener Leith readers will know that we have been working for more than twelve months to develop a community owned wind turbine on land at Seafield, in partnership with PEDAL Portobello. Below, is an update and press release on the project. Plans for the first urban community wind turbine in Scotland have hit a stumbling block after the landowner, Scottish Water changed their stance on the project at the start of this year. Negotiations stalled after the private sector companies that manage the PFI contract at the treatment works demanded that Scottish Water accept liability for any accidents involving the proposed turbine on the site. Although the risk of the wind turbine damaging the sewage works is extremely small, Scottish Water have said they are not willing to accept the risk, even though PEDAL and Greener Leith would fund an insurance policy as part of the project. Talks with the landowner, Scottish Water, and the companies that manage the Seafield site through a Private Finance Initiative began in February 2011. Despite receiving several written assurances from senior staff representing the organisations involved that they would back a turbine on this site, it was not until 19th January 2012, nearly a year later, that Scottish Water changed their stance on the crucial land deal. The two sides last met on 1 February 2012 in an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the issue. Since then community volunteers, having already put in many hundreds of hours over many months to get the project to this stage, have attempted to lobby Scottish Government ministers, who are the sole shareholders of Scottish Water, in a bid to find a way forward. To date Scottish Water has not changed its stance on the project. Proposals to build a single wind turbine on the site are the result of long standing collaboration between neighbouring community groups PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith. The extent of the influence of private contractors over Scottish Water is unclear as the project requires a land deal that would last longer than the current PFI contract at Seafield – and the land, like Scottish Water, is ultimately owned by the public sector. We have called on Scottish Government ministers to direct Scottish Water to indemnify the PFI contract holders from any risk associated with this project. Alternatively, the Scottish Government should create an indemnity bond to cover community renewable projects on land subject to PFI. This could be covered in the future from the proceeds from community projects that have benefited from it. PEDAL and Greener Leith already have funding from the Scottish Government and British Gas Energyshare in place to take the project to planning application. Expert opinion suggests that the Seafield site is the most productive site in the area. To date, the groups' feasibility work has not uncovered any environmental or engineering reason why the Seafield project could not proceed. Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said: “We are bitterly disappointed to have got this far only for the project to be stalled on what looks like a technicality. “We are exploring every available option to resolve this impasse, and will not give up on the project yet. “We owe it to the thousands of supporters who voted for us on Energyshare.com; the hundreds of local people who will benefit and our project funders to try to find a way to break the deadlock.” Eva Schonveld, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said: "We are particularly frustrated that Scottish Water has taken a whole year to identify these issues, during which a huge number of volunteer hours have been put into the project. “Our feasibility work shows there are no technical ‘show-stoppers’ to building a turbine here, we are the most supported of nearly 1000 projects across the UK that took part in the Energyshare competition, and we have all the funds in place to take the project to planning submission. “We continue to try to resolve the issue of liability through negotiations and political solutions. It seems extraordinary that dozens of wind turbines operate without incident on sewage works around the world, but this cannot be done on public land in Edinburgh. “We simply cannot accept that, which is why we are determined to find a way forward.” Georgy Davis of Community Energy Scotland, a membership organisation that represents community renewable energy projects in Scotland said: “This is a disappointing turn of affairs for this inspirational project that is a result of significant community efforts. “The issue of indemnity for third parties in relation to land that has existing infrastructure on it is one that could be of increasing significance for community-led renewable projects particularly in the urban environment potentially hampering the Scottish Government’s ability to achieve it's target for renewables in general and community renewables in particular. “We believe the issue needs resolved.” You can download this post as complete press release in pdf format by clicking here. Update: Since we posted this on our blog, Scottish Land Ownership expert Andy Wightman pointed out that the Scottish Government could simply direct Scottish Water to allow the project to go ahead if they wished to.  @PEDALPortobello Section 56 (3) of Water Indutry Act gives @AlexNeilSNP the power of direction over Scottish Water. goo.gl/iK057— Andy Wightman (@andywightman) April 30, 2012

2012-05-05T18:34:26+01:00 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/DyYO04Kp_gU/portobello-and-leith-community-wind-turbine-hits-stumbling-b.html 2011-10-29T21:06:17+01:00 150 HyperlocalSite 74974:644605:13517645 472893 2011-10-29T18:53:54+01:00

Although we've already posted about the 2011 Greener Leith AGM, last time we hadn't confirmed a speaker. We're now pleased to be able to announce that Matt Kaye from the Udny Community Wind Turbine Company Ltd, will be in attendance at the meeting. He'll give a short presentation on the Udny Community Wind project, which has recently started generating both power, and revenue, for their local community.  The Udny Community Wind Turbine project is one of the first 100% community owned wind turbines on mainland Scotland - and so we hope to follow in their footsteps by building a Seafield. After his talk, which we're sure will be both thought provoking and fun, there will be an opportunity to ask him, and Greener Leith board members about the development of community wind energy projects in general - and the specifics of our Seafield project. You don't need to be a Greener Leith member to come to the meeting - so please do think about coming. You do need to be a member to vote and stand for the management committee though. So if you are interested in this, please do bring your fivers so that you can sign-up for another year. After the wind turbine discussion, and the formal business of the AGM has been concluded, it's very possible we'll end up in one of Leith's many fine hostelries for a refreshment or two. The meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Tuesday the 1st of November at the Leith Kirkgate Community Centre.  Five months ago, we met up with some of the people involved in the Udny Wind Turbine and posted our chat to Audioboo. You can listen to it here: Building the Udny Community Wind Turbine (mp3)   

2011-10-29T21:06:17+01:00 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/dkQZkp38c0A/greener-leith-agm-speaker-confirmed.html 2011-10-13T00:43:20+01:00 150 HyperlocalSite 74974:644605:13228376 461714 2011-10-12T21:59:57+01:00

News that we have successfully raised funds for the pre-application phase of the Leith & Portobello Community Wind Turbine has attracted a bit of press attention lately. As this photo shows, we made the front page of the second last ever Herald and Post.  As we are keen to involve as many Leithers as possible in the development of the project, we're in doubt that the best subject for our AGM this year will be our community wind turbine project. We would like to invite all our members, supporters, friends and indeed any local resident interested in finding out more about the wind turbine proposal, or any of our other project to come to our Annual General Meeting for 2011. The meeting will take place in the Leith Community Centre, in the Persevere Room at 7.30pm on Tuesday the first of November. Everyone is welcome, so please do forward details of this meeting to anyone whom you believe may be interested. We should make it clear however, that the money we have borrowed from the Scottish Government is to pay for all the detailed research that we need to do to two things: To determine whether a wind turbine is actually feasible and that there is a workable business case. And if it is feasible, to put together a detailed planning application. If both of these steps are successful, then Greener Leith, in partnership with PEDAL Portobello, will borrow more money to build the wind turbine. Given that a lot of the feasibility research has not be started, let alone completed yet, we may not be able to answer technical questions about the wind turbine project in massive detail at the meeting. Nevertheless, we will try to answer all questions as honestly and transparently as we can. In particular, we'd like to know how you think we should spend any financial surplus the wind turbine may generate, if it does get the go ahead.  We are also trying to persuade people from other Scottish communities where community wind projects are already up and running, to come and speak at the meeting. However, at present our guest speakers are still to be confirmed. In the meantime, if you've got a spare fifteen minutes you may want to have a look at this short film about how a community wind project affected the village of Fintry. If you have any questions please do get in touch.

2011-10-13T00:43:20+01:00 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/6OxeZ7VOx9M/public-meeting-agm-and-wind-turbine-questions.html 2011-06-24T00:36:35+01:00 150 HyperlocalSite 74974:644605:11888630 387413 2011-06-23T22:59:26+01:00

We are delighted to report that our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine within Seafield Waste Water treatment works has been the subject of motion at the Holyrood parliament, thanks to new Edinburgh MSP Kezia Dugdale. It reads:  S4M-00300 Kezia Dugdale: Scotland's First Urban Community Wind Turbine? —That the Parliament notes the joint venture between Greener Leith and PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) to build and operate the first 100% community-owned urban wind turbine at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Plant; commends their drive in pursuing the feasibility of such a project; considers the costs involved in producing noise and wildlife impact assessments prohibitive and encourages the Scottish Government to maintain and develop the schemes that it operates to ease the burden of such explorative work; considers that the development could generate tens of thousands of pounds for the local community; recognises that the environmental impact on the landscape must be assessed alongside its value as an asset to the whole community, and looks forward to seeing the results of the feasibility study in due course. The motion currently has the support of the following MSP's: Jamie Hepburn, John Pentland, Bill Kidd, Elaine Murray, Mark Griffin, Sarah Boyack, Mike MacKenzie & John Park Should you wish to use a service like www.writetothem.com to encourage further sign-up by your local MSP's then we'd be most grateful. Recently, the Evening News published an opinion piece by a Mr Robert Duncan, who is sceptical of our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine at Seafield waste water treatment works. You can find his opinion piece here As we felt that the piece was somewhat misleading, we are delighted that the Evening News published an edited version of a letter we put together in response to Mr Duncans letter. We publish our response in full below here too:  Sir,Robert Duncan made some interesting points in his opinion piece, “Why sewage plant turbine plan is such a stinker, Monday 21 June.While it is unfortunate that the 1kw wind turbine on his roof performed poorly, this does not necessarily mean that the proposed community turbine at Seafield will also fail. The obvious difference is that Seafield is on the coast, and therefore windier than the city centre. But our proposed turbine will also be installed at a hub height of between 60 and 98 metres, where wind speeds are considerably higher than at roof level. The rated output of our turbine will also be between 500 and 2,300 times greater than roof-mounted turbines. We will be measuring the wind resource at Seafield as part of our feasibility study, and if the wind is shown to be insufficient, we will not proceed with the project.Mr Duncan’s assertion that urban wind turbines are unsuccessful would be disputed by the managers at the Michelin factory in Dundee, where two turbines have generated nearly 30 million kwh since they were installed 5 years ago. That’s equivalent to a third of the plant’s electricity needs.Mr Duncan asserts that solar power, not wind, is the answer. We agree that solar can play a big role in cutting emissions, which is why PEDAL last year promoted this through its “Solar Porty” scheme. It’s also possible that the revenue from the Seafield turbine could subsidise the installation of solar panels on local residents’ homes.We hope that the urban communities of Portobello, Leith and Craigentinny will not miss out on the opportunities that this renewable revolution holds.Yours faithfullyJane LewisChairPEDAL – Portobello Transition TownCharlotte EncombeChairGreener Leith Lastly, if there is anything you can do to help to encourage more people to sign-up to support our bid on Energy Share we'd be most grateful. If you have a Facebook account or a Twitter account please share this link with anyone who you think would be willing to support the plan now: http://bit.ly/kAwGL4  

2011-06-24T00:36:35+01:00 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/RmdKlra9ysg/seafield-wind-turbine-generates-debate-in-holyrood-and-the-e.html 2011-06-09T00:38:53+01:00 150 HyperlocalSite 74974:644605:11738583 376729 2011-06-08T21:27:28+01:00

Greener Leith would like to thank everyone who has signed up to support our Portobello and Leith Community Wind Turbine bid. We've been blown away by the backing we've received from local people, politicians and media. Your continued support is really important to the sucess of the project, and it really will make it more likely that we will get funding to take the project forwards. At present, our project is the most popular project in the entire UK on the Energyshare.com website - where the projects with the most support at the end of the month are more likely to gain funding. However, we need to keep adding supporters to stay in the top 5 as lot's of other bids are also still adding supporters every day. Therefore, if you haven't signed up as a supporter yet please do it straight away! You can do it here: http://www.energyshare.com/portobello-leith-community-wind-energy-project/ If you have already signed-up as a supporter, please take action to encourage other people you know to sign-up as supporters of the bid. Email them, post the link to Facebook, or Tweet about it. Please help us keep the momentum going in any social network you're involved in. Already 127 people have shared the group on Facebook - but please keep doing it as sometimes people need a second reminder! If they need more information you can send them this link too: http://www.greenerleith.org/greener-leith-news/2011/6/3/back-our-energyshare-bid-to-boost-community-power.html The project has had some fantastic coverage in the local media: On Wednesday evening STV broadcast a package about the project featuring Justin Kendrick from PEDAL Portobello, Kenny MacAskill MSP and Greener Leith Board member Chas Booth. You can watch it here: Scotland's first urban wind turbine could be built in Edinburgh Earlier in the week the Evening News ran a number of stories online and in the paper:  Evening News Editorial - More than hot air Blow Me - An urban wind farm Turbine plan for Seafield STV also published this post on last Friday:  Community groups propse Scotland's first urban wind turbine for Edinburgh We are also grateful for the visible support of local politicians including Kenny MacAskill MSP, Kezia Dugdale MSP, and Sheila Gilmore MP. If there are any other local politicians reading this, who are not on the planning committee - then please do sign-up too. And whilst the vast majority of people supporting the bid are from Edinburgh, it's also nice to see that the Isle of Eigg have backed our plan too - as they have been a trail blazing community in the field of community energy. Greener Leith and PEDAL volunteers have also been doing our best to share as much detail as we can with local residents at public meetings. Last week Greener Leith members discussed the project at the Leith Links Community Council and this week we attended the Friends of the Water of Leith Basin, and the Leith Central Community Council planning sub-committee. If you would like us to attend a meeting of your community group to discuss the plans then please get in touch. You can read the FAQ about the project here.

2011-06-09T00:38:53+01:00 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/l1Y7PAfu6Ss/200-back-the-portobello-and-leith-community-wind-turbine-in.html