Back our Energyshare bid to boost community power

Artist’s impres­sion of the pro­posed wind turbine

A unique part­ner­ship between two Edinburgh com­munity groups has been estab­lished to devel­op a com­munity owned wind tur­bine on the coast between Portobello and Leith.

We would really appre­ci­ate it if you, your fam­ily, neigh­bours and friends back our bid by click­ing on the title in the box on the right to reach the www.energyshare.com web­site, and regis­ter­ing your sup­port for our tur­bine project!

PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith have joined forces to con­duct detailed feas­ib­il­ity work on a site with­in the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works. Early sur­veys sug­gest a wind tur­bine on this site has the poten­tial to gen­er­ate enough renew­able energy to sup­ply the annu­al elec­tri­city needs of 300‑1300 house­holds, depend­ing on the size of tur­bine installed.

The gen­er­at­or would be the first com­munity-owned urb­an wind tur­bine in Scotland.

The pro­ject would see sub­stan­tial sums raised for loc­al com­munity pro­jects over the life­time of the pro­ject. The two groups have now launched a cam­paign to raise fund­ing to devel­op the pro­ject, and are urging loc­al res­id­ents to help win fund­ing by sup­port­ing a bid to the Energyshare Fund.

The pro­jects with the most sup­port­ers on the Energyshare web­site have the greatest chance of win­ning fund­ing. Therefore, both com­munity groups are urging Edinburgh res­id­ents to register their sup­port on the Energyshare web­site before the 30^th June.

The pro­ject also has the back­ing of loc­al Member of the Scottish Parliament Kenny MacAskill. The pro­posed site sits on the bound­ary of their two constituencies.

Jane Lewis, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said:

“We have been work­ing hard to find suit­able renew­able energy pro­jects that will deliv­er car­bon sav­ings, a long-term source of fund­ing for loc­al com­munity pro­jects, and also provide a vis­ible demon­stra­tion of the renew­able resources to be found loc­ally. We think this pro­pos­al has real prom­ise, and we’re ask­ing for com­munity sup­port to take it forward.”

Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said:

“This pro­ject could cre­ate a com­munity fund to help thou­sands of loc­al people for many years into the future. Whilst there’s still a lot of work to do before the pro­ject gets the final green light, we hope that the pro­posed wind tur­bine will become a land­mark and a source of loc­al pride, as well as power.”

Kenny MacAskill, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Eastern said,

“I fully sup­port this excel­lent pro­pos­al from PEDAL and Greener Leith which chimes well with our nation­al moves to devel­op Scotland as the Green Energy Powerhouse of Europe, and to encour­age com­munity own­er­ship of renew­ables. I’m pleased to hear that PEDAL will be seek­ing loc­al res­id­ents’ views.”

More inform­a­tion about the pro­ject is avail­able on the FAQ page.