The Kilbirnie wind turbine1 has accomplished its first full week of operations, changing into Scotland’s first community-owned growth to function commercially with out long-term authorities subsidies.2 This watershed second for neighborhood power follows the UK Authorities and Nice British Power publishing its Native Energy Plan this month, aiming to take a position £1 billion in regionally owned clear power tasks and guarantee communities immediately profit from the schemes they host.3 (Phrases: Thrive Renewables).
The two.5MW turbine in Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire, can contribute over 7,000 MWh of renewable electrical energy to the nation’s power system per yr. That’s the equal of powering over 2,000 common Scottish houses.4 Moreover, the event will ship over 3,000 tonnes of carbon emissions reductions yearly.5
The undertaking will immediately profit native causes, with all earnings from electrical energy gross sales going into Radio Metropolis’s programme of sustainable growth tasks that deal with the necessity for capital funding in a brand new Employment Hub, providing employment and coaching alternatives for native individuals, enhance sustainable transport alternatives and assist to deal with well being and academic inequalities regionally, in addition to upgrading native sports activities and leisure services.
Allan Wilson, a Director of ATTIX CIC, mentioned: “This has been a protracted and at occasions torturous journey for our neighborhood, however we now have prevailed and are available out on the finish stronger than we began, with a long-term priceless asset that can pay large dividends for an space too lengthy ignored for funding by others. We are actually embarking on a unique journey however bolstered over the long run by re-investing proceeds from our endeavours again into enhancing services and companies regionally and addressing a few of this space’s many challenges.”
The UK Authorities’s Power Minister, Michael Shanks, mentioned: “That is what neighborhood power is all about – giving individuals a stake in power era so earnings go to what issues, from tackling gas poverty to enhancing native sports activities services in Ayrshire.
“With Nice British Power we’re delivering the most important public funding in neighborhood power in Britain’s historical past, by way of our Native Energy Plan, so extra communities can personal and management clear power tasks that ship advantages for his or her space.”
Scotland’s Power Secretary, Gillian Martin, mentioned: “The Scottish Authorities is dedicated to supporting the expansion of neighborhood power by way of CARES and we’re proud to have offered this undertaking with each funding and help. Each neighborhood undertaking is vital in serving to us to attain a simply transition to a web zero future and my congratulations go to the group at Radio Metropolis Affiliation for reaching this vital milestone in what’s a big and progressive growth in delivering community-owned power.”
It should additionally help the charity’s ongoing work to deal with the substantial gas poverty in its neighborhood by way of help with power vouchers, distribution of halogen heaters and electrical blankets, in addition to one to 1 recommendation to fight and cut back peoples’ power payments.
The novel strategy to funding the wind turbine supplies a blueprint for financing the community-led power transition from the bottom up. It brings collectively £5.6 million in blended finance – £1.6 million in social funding from Social Funding Scotland and £4 million from Neighborhood Power Catalyst, a £40 million facility managed by Thrive Renewables, in partnership with Higher Society Capital. Native Power Scotland supported the undertaking by way of planning and design with a mortgage from the Scottish Authorities’s Neighborhood and Renewable Power Scheme (CARES). The undertaking has additionally acquired a mixture of Nice British Power and Scottish Authorities grant funding by way of CARES.
CEO of Thrive Renewables, Matthew Clayton, mentioned: “The Kilbirnie wind turbine is proof of the important function that communities should play within the transition to scrub power, not solely including important capability to the grid however making certain the advantages are felt at an area degree. We’re thrilled to see the turbine commissioned and look ahead to seeing the influence it has inside Kilbirnie, serving to help some vital neighborhood causes and initiatives which have traditionally struggled for funding.”
Joe Shamash, Funding Director at Higher Society Capital, commented: “ATTIX exhibits what communities can obtain after they have the correct instruments and finance to take possession of their native power infrastructure. Neighborhood-owned renewable power like that is an incredible manner to assist meet the UK’s rising power wants whereas additionally making certain the advantages stream again to the communities that host them.
“This undertaking is a giant milestone for neighborhood power in Scotland. We’re actually blissful to have performed a small function on this, and we’re eager to see extra partnerships like this between communities and buyers this yr.”
ATTIX CIC is a Neighborhood Curiosity Firm established and asset locked to Radio Metropolis Affiliation Ltd to develop the neighborhood turbine in Kilbirnie. In addition to this onshore wind turbine, Radio Metropolis Affiliation can be growing its wider ‘Electrical Valley’ sustainability undertaking together with working with Scottish Water within the growth of a small-scale hydro web site. This will even be used to re-invest again into the local people, selling sustainable and reasonably priced neighborhood transport and power effectivity.
Alastair Davis, Chief Govt Officer at Social Funding Scotland, mentioned: “We’re proud to have supported ATTIX CIC with a £1.6 million funding to assist convey the Kilbirnie wind turbine to life. This undertaking exhibits how community-owned renewable power can ship each clear energy and long-term native profit. We look ahead to backing extra partnerships that put communities on the coronary heart of Scotland’s power transition.”
Chris Morris, Native Power Scotland Supervisor, added: “CARES funding has helped Radio Metropolis Affiliation to develop this main neighborhood undertaking, offering help from an preliminary thought, by way of the planning course of and to energisation. Congratulations to the gifted group at Radio Metropolis, whose exhausting work and tenacity have introduced this undertaking to life, in order that the neighborhood will really feel the advantages for years to return.”
Notes
[1] Additionally it is often called the ATTX CIC undertaking.
[2] The undertaking operates on a ‘service provider’ foundation promoting electrical energy on a purely industrial foundation, with out authorities value help mechanisms equivalent to Contracts for Distinction or historic Feed-in Tariffs.
[3] In response to its latest strategic plan, Nice British Power (GBE) plans to help over 1,000 neighborhood power teams to take a stake within the UK power transition.
[4] Calculated utilizing the newest subnational statistics from the Division for Power Safety and Internet Zero (DESNZ) exhibiting that common home family consumption in Scotland is 3,429.3kWh each year.
[5] Carbon discount is calculated by multiplying the estimated annual era (7GWh) by the variety of tonnes of carbon which fossil fuels would produce to generate the identical quantity of electrical energy. We have now used DESNZ’s “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 448 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electrical energy equipped from the Digest of UK Power Statistics (July 2025) Desk 5.14 (“Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electrical energy equipped”).
