Ruaig Site Report

Monday, 09 October 2006

Download the Tiree - Ruaig (draft 3).doc (1.0Mb) Since 2003 Tiree Development Partnership has been promoting the idea of a community-owned wind energy project for the island, of a scale capable of making a significant economic contribution to local life.  The resulting proposal is to install a single wind turbine of output 850-900kW in the Ruaig Sliabh area, near the B8069 (Caolas) road.  The 3-blade wind turbine would be connected to the main Tiree electricity grid via underground cable, and would generate power for sale by the community. The choice of site comes as the outcome of a long process of technical assessment and public consultation.  Despite the open landscape and low population density, there are many constraints to siting a wind turbine on Tiree, and TDP has worked hard to achieve the best compromise.  This has not always been easy, requiring a balance between interests as diverse as nature conservancy, airport safety, radar interference, visual impact and noise. The ideal location on Tiree from a technical standpoint may be quite unacceptable from an environmental one, and vice versa.  In addition, there is an overriding need for a community generator to be economically viable, which introduces another layer of locational constraints related to the costs of grid connection and road access.  The present report, then, is a summary of the process that led to the choice of the Ruaig Sliabh site.

 

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