Kilfinan Community Council received an update from Tighnabruaich District Development Trust on the extension to the life of the Srondoire windfarm:

The vast bulk of the funding for TDDT comes from our 6.25% stake in Sròndoire Wind Farm. That investment has a finite life to match the expected operational life of the kit. However, the principal landowners/shareholders advised at a recent shareholders’ meeting that they were considering extending the life of the farm and its neighbour and have now  decided to proceed with a planning application to extend the operational life and planning consent for both wind farms out to December 2055.  Whilst they expect to have to renew some or all of the turbines before then, as a principle they want to have the planning position secured.

Whilst technically they are not required to consult for such an amendment to existing planning consents, given the level of community ownership and engagement at Allt Dearg and Sròndoire, they decided it would be sensible to share these plans with both the community owners and the associated Community Councils. I have been asked, therefore, to share the proposals with you in case you identify any issues of concern. While our existing investment will come to an end, there is a commitment to retain community involvement in the next phase, although the terms for that will have to be negotiated nearer the time, depending on circumstances. As you will see, there are no radical changes proposed to what is there already.

Details of the proposal are below. We discussed this at our August meeting.