Sanquhar Community Wind Farm makes Trusts' First Wind Farm Payment of £43,000 – 26th July 2018

The first major payment from a wind farm was made to the Upper Nithsdale Community Trust this week. Rob Fryer, on behalf of Community Windpower and Sanquhar Community Wind Company Limited, handed over a cheque for £43,000 to the Trust’s representatives, including Duncan Close from Sanquhar, and Julie Heslop from Kirkconnel and Kelloholm.

This payment signalled the first instalment of the annual fund to the trust. The recently operational Sanquhar Community Wind Farm will provide £150,000 a year to the host communities of Sanquhar and Kirkconnel and Kelloholm, equating to around £4 million of funding for the Upper Nithsdale Community Trust over the lifetime of the wind farm.

Duncan Close, Chair/Provost of Sanquhar Community Council commented that “This sum represents the first major payment from any wind farm to the people of Upper Nithsdale. We are grateful to Community Windpower who operate the wind farm at Sanquhar for their prompt payment, which is a result of the good relations shared with the company during planning and construction. These good relations will continue during the operation of this wind farm and the future planned extension which we support”

Rob Fryer, Director at Community Windpower added; ‘Community Windpower are delighted to be the first to add to the fund and support the host communities of Sanquhar Community Wind Farm. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with the Upper Nithsdale Community Trust and fully endorse all the great work and projects the Trust has planned for the good folk of the area.’.

The wind farm, using Community Windpower’s ‘buy Scottish’ policy, features Scottish steel towers from CS Wind UK in Cambeltown, Argyle, and was constructed using Scottish civil and engineering contractors. The project was supported by the local host communities and did not receive any objections during the planning process. The clean green electricity generated by the Vestas turbines is used by Nestle UK and Ireland to cover 50% of their annual energy bill with a long term partnership agreement in place.

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