The Coigach Wind Project was commissioned in March 2017 to the delight of the local community.
The turbine installed is a 500kW refurbished Vestas V47 and is expected to generate 2,000MWh annually. Locogen were appointed in early 2015 as Project Manager to take the project through to installation and commissioning. Coigach Community Interest Company, who own the turbine, plan to reinvest the income from the development into other local projects.
This was one of Locogen’s more challenging projects, with a number of hurdles to overcome. Some of the major issues faced included:
- Obtaining a number of variations to the original planning consent;
- Installing the project within very stringent planning conditions;
- Securing a new grid connection offer which made the project more financially viable;
- Raising finance through Assetz Capital for a refurbished wind turbine;
- Assisting with property agreements and Land Court approval; and
- Achieving a safe turbine delivery along a network of single carriageway rural roads.
Despite these barriers, the project was delivered within a very tight timescale. Construction started November 2016 and the project was commissioned in March 2017.