We’re up and running fully – turbine commissioned and spinning – see!

Dingwall Wind Co-op Turbine from Richard Lockett on Vimeo.

The first spin!

As you can see we are nearly there – waiting for a drop in wind to get the blades up:

Our turbine being loaded up in Germany. It’s predicted to make its way to site in a weeks time – we’re trying to find out the route so members can look out for it on the way past! Some pictures for now:

Foundations are now complete and it even looks as if the turbine may be going up a bit ahead of schedule – watch this space. For now, some pictures of the foundations – the ring of bolts will attach to the base of the turbine tower and you can see the cable ready to connect.

Serious foundation work is now ongoing on site preparatory to next month’s turbine raising.

More photos will follow soon. As you can see, the work is being well supervised!

The cable from the turbine site to the grid is now in place, the turbine is being built, and we’re working to schedule for commissioning in early June. The main milestones are:

April: Foundation construction

May: Electrical balance of plant,  turbine delivery

31st May: grid connection completion by SSE

First week of June: Turbine construction and commissioning

We have also pencilled in the Saturday 12th July for our first AGM. This meeting will be on the site so will be a chance for all members to see the turbine in action!

We’ve just heard the great news that Dennis Overton, one of our Directors, has received an OBE for New Year, for services to the economy in Alness and Rwanda. And, we might add, Dingwall! Many congratulations to Dennis.

In other news, all the share certificates are now issued, the turbine has been ordered, and significant work has happened on site with a kilometre of cable laid to date – all on schedule for installation in May 2014.  A very happy New Year to all our members and supporters

We’ve got there with 5 days to spare – marvellous! Applications are still coming in though – this may seem illogical but as we prioritise by proximity to the site, there is still a chance for very local people to apply and get shares, and they are very welcome to do so. The turbine will go on order very soon and we’re all set for installation in late Spring.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the response to our share offer – hard to believe it’s not even a week yet and we have already received applications for £456,250 worth of shares – over 50% of our target! Our initial Pioneer shares were actually sold out by the end of the weekend. The vast majority of applicants are local to the turbine. The share offer will run until the end of November as advertised to give as many local people as possible the chance to join up – but it would be great to keep the momentum going – can we get to £500,000 by the end of the month?