Abergwaun Community Turbine
APPLICATION FOR A LARGER WIND TURBINE
TBG have now submitted our planning application for a larger wind turbine to replace the existing turbine at Trebover. This is our main source of income and, through our Community Climate Fund, we support many local businesses and projects. The current turbine needs replacing as it is needing increasing maintenance and newer turbine technology would enable us to generate energy more efficiently.
Click here for more information and how to support our planning application.
In the summer of 2011, Transition Bro Gwaun, with grant support from the Welsh Government’s community renewables programme, Ynni’r Fro, and in partnership with Parc-y-Morfa Farms Ltd, initiated a joint venture project on land adjacent to Fishguard, where the turbine now stands.
Four years later, a 225 kW Endurance turbine with a mast height of 30m and blade diameter of 30m was commissioned, planning permission having been granted on appeal in August 2014. Loans totalling £285k were secured locally from 29 individuals and 3 community groups to fund TBG’s share of the project.
Power generation has averaged 590,000 KWh per year, which is equivalent to the average electricity consumption of 218 homes. Six months of production was lost in 2018 due to a serious gear box fault; financial loss at the time was minimal due to insurance cover, sadly no longer available. The breakdown then, and more recent reliability issues, have prompted us now to apply for planning permission to change the machine for one that is 50% larger, and at least twice as productive.
Watch this space for updates while we wait for Pembrokeshire C C to digest the outcome of January’s vote by the Planning Committee supporting our application, contrary to the recommendation of the Planning Officer!
Predictable Feed in Tariff payments, together with slowly rising export prices, enabled all loans to be paid after seven years, when we were able to set up our Community Climate Fund. Over a period of three years, grants totalling over £75k have been given to twenty local projects that address climate and biodiversity issues. You can read our report on this project, please click on the buttons for the report in English and Welsh retrospectively.
Enabling the sale of power to local consumers through an Energy Club, or similar, will be a significant part of our aim to make local renewable energy available at a fair rate and to generate enough renewable energy to power our community by 2035. Replacing the turbine with a larger machine will assist in this work – hear for yourself what we have achieved and plan for the next 10 years:
TBG is happy to share its experience with other community groups, please contact Transition Bro Gwaun for more details.
Watch to find out more about our energy projects
Video Link Film by Sustainable Wales
Video Link Shine a Light