Lairg Windfarm
Newsletter June 2011 | Newsletter September 2010Newsletter June 2011
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Welcome to the second ABO Wind newsletter for our site in Lairg. We hope to provide you with relevant updates on the progress of our project since the last issue in November.
Construction back underway after bird breeding season
As you may have noticed, construction work on Lairg Wind Farm was resumed on the 1st of June after the bird breeding season ended. ABO Wind continues to work closely with SNH and The Highland Council to ensure that all construction work is carried out at the best possible time of year.
We appreciate that bird protection is an important issue for the community around the site. Therefore two months of ornithology monitoring took place at the start of April. SNH have now given the go ahead for construction work to continue after nothing of note was found on the site.
New Torroboll Burn Crossing
Access route under construction
Road section to the north east
Control Building for Lairg
Top cut with peat reinstatement
Project Outline
The next steps for the project will be to complete construction and
prepare for the arrival of the three turbines. Details of traffic
movements within the area will be provided nearer to the time of
delivery. Turbines are due to be erected later this year and be fully
operational by early 2012.| Completed | Next Steps |
| 3km of road constructed | Foundation construction |
| Control building | Dry run to check route of delivery |
| Bird monitoring programme | Turbines scheduled to arrive on site for erection early September |
| Access improvements | Lairg Open Day |
Community Benefit Fund
ABO Wind strives to bring relevant benefits to the local communities closest to our wind farm sites. To encourage this, the Scottish Community Foundation have created a fund specifically designed to meet the needs of the Lairg community.Since the launch earlier in the year, the Foundation have received encouraging and positive responses from community groups.
Awards to date or in process show a spread of benefits across different types of activities, including:
- £500 to Lairg Friendship Group towards transport costs for their annual summer outing.
- £750 to Lairg Primary School Parent Council towards costs for a residential trip to Loch Inch for 14 children who will enjoy outdoor activities not usually available locally.
- £300 towards the Lairg Music Festival to help establish a new tin whistle class at the highly regarded annual music festival.
- Three other applications are currently either pending assessment or decisions.
The fund has been advertised through local posters and by word of mouth. Application forms are available in the Service Point or people can contact the Community Council directly. The Community Council are the decision making body for the fund once applications have been received and assessed by The Scottish Community Foundation.
ABO Wind UK Ltd.
ABO Wind UK Ltd. is a branch of a large successful European wind developer ABO Wind. The parent company is one of Europe’s most experienced developers with interests in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Bulgaria, Belgium and Argentina, and has successfully developed, constructed and maintained wind farms for over twelve years. Further information can be found at http://www.abo-wind.com or by contacting Matt Braund at the following address:ABO Wind UK Ltd.
Suite 1/18
Alba Innovation Centre
Alba Campus
Livingston
EH54 7GA
0800 066 5631
matt.braund@abo-wind.com
Newsletter September 2010
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Photomontage: View of the wind farm from Torroble looking east
You may know that ABO Wind UK Ltd. is soon starting construction on a wind farm to the south-east of Lairg. We hope that a regular newsletter will be of interest and use, and that it will help keep you informed of the site’s progress.
The site is located at Cnoc na-Inghinn, approximately 4km from Lairg, to the east of Torroble. The wind farm will consist of three 2.5MW turbines, producing energy for 3,550 houses per year. Typically, wind farms operate for 25 years. At the end of this period, the wind farm will either be decommissioned, taken away or the site will be restored or repowered with new generation turbines, for which a new planning application would be required.
ABO Wind UK Ltd.
ABO Wind UK Ltd. is a branch of a large successful European wind developer-ABO Wind. The parent company is one of Europe’s most experienced developers with interests in Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Bulgaria, Belgium and Argentina, and has successfully developed, constructed and maintained wind farms for overfourteen years. Further information can be found at www.abo-wind.com. The UK branch is supported by this expertise but is small enough to remain personal. The company have been based in Scotland since 2007.
Construction
The construction process is expected to take seven months, starting on the 1st September, which means by mid 2011 the site will be producing energy. There is a vast amount of work to be done over the coming months-the first stages will involve:- Installation of electrical cabling and equipment- the energy produced from the site will be linked up to the national energy supply via underground cables.
- Creation of permanent access routes- this will allow vehicles to access the site while avoiding damage to wildlife and buildings. Most traffic will be using the A836 for access, while the turbinesthemselves will be transported through the village of Lairg, via the A839. Due to the size of some vehicles, the access to the C-class road at Lairg train station will be widened (shown in red on the map) and a new access road will be built across the heathland to the location of the turbines. For the first few weeks there will be a temporary construction compound located off the Torroble road, which will move further onto the site as the development progresses. There will be a traffic management plan in place to ensure that construction vehicles cause as little disruption as possible.
Timescale
The area around Lairg is of great ecological importance, and ABO Wind UK Ltd. is working to minimise disruption to wildlife. For this reason, the majority of construction work will be done over the coming winter months, to avoid disturbing the hen harrier mating season, which is expected to begin in March. ABO Wind UK Ltd. has worked closely with Scottish Natural Heritage and The Highland Council to ensure that all construction work is carried out at the best possible time of year. The access tracks are expected to be constructed by November and the turbines are due to be erected in spring 2011. Some of the work will be weather dependent so construction will be flexible.Community
ABO Wind UK Ltd. strives to ensure that the Lairg community embrace the local wind farm. To encourage this, in association with members of the community council, we have created a community benefit scheme specifically tailored to the needs of the Lairg community. This will help Lairg benefit economically from theproject and allow the turbines to contribute to the area, socially and financially. We hope the local community will appreciate the presence of the turbines, and as such ask that if you have any queries or concerns regarding the project, you direct them to Matt Braund at the following address:
ABO Wind UK Ltd.
Suite 0/16
Alba Innovation Centre
Alba Campus
Livingston
EH54 7GA
0800 066 5631
braund.matt@abo-wind.com
www.abo-wind.co.uk