Tilley the Turbine has been going well since she was commissioned at the end of March.  She has generated over 610 MWh of electricity up to the end of June, which is slightly more than the wind mast predicted.   You may remember the mast which was erected for the twelve months from November 2007.  This has provided targets for each calendar month against which we can measure our actual output.  July has been an exceptionally windy month for the summer and we’re looking forward to some good results at the end of the month.   It’s great to have this extra output in the bag in case we get a calmer winter than usual.

After much delay and chasing we finally received notification that TREL is eligible to claim Feed in Tariff (FiT) and we have been transferred to the FiT register.  This is brilliant news as each kwh generated is now worth 40% more in income than originally budgeted.

At an event on April 24^th attended by over 100 islanders and representatives of those organisations that have assisted in the project, including Community Energy Scotland (CES), The Coop Bank, TC Young and the Argyll Estates. Tiree's 900KW Enercon E44 turbine "Tilley" was officially handed over by the chair of Tiree Renewable Energy Limited, Bruce Kemp to Tish MacKinnon, chair of the Tiree Community Development Trust.

The official opening was followed by a well attended family dance at the island's community hall An Talla, where Enercon's engineers from Germany and the bankers from the Coop in Manchester were introduced to the challenges of ceilidh dancing on Tiree.

The turbine is now operating smoothly and in April, despite some disruption from the commissioning process, met its anticipated performance target.

Tiree Renewable Energy Company Limited (TREL) is pleased to announce that after being put through a number of energising and commissioning tests Tilley the Tiree Turbine was generating by late afternoon on Saturday 27^th March.

The project to build a Turbine for the community of Tiree started over 4 years ago. The voluntary directors of TREL have worked tirelessly, and overcome many hurdles during this time to reach this day.

The turbine is now operational and will start to generate an income stream which will benefit the community of Tiree for the next 25 years. This income will be gift aided by TREL to Tiree Community Development Trust and used to support a variety of future community projects. Details regarding The Tiree Windfall fund will be distributed to the community soon.

Please note there will be an official opening ceremony on Saturday 24^th April at 2pm, followed by a family dance in the evening, which will be open to all in the community. (More details will follow later, watch out for notices)

Congratulations to all who have helped in any way to make this project a success.

Here are some pictures of lifting the blades into place. The lift took place late Monday night (16/11) and this morning.

Pictures of yesterdays (14/11/09) lift of the third tower stage and the nascelle.