Windfarm Residents To Receive Compensation

An energy company is launching a new initiative in Northern Ireland which will see people living close to proposed wind farms offered a compensatory discount off their electricity bills.

Renewable energy company RES developed the Local Electricity Discount Scheme (LEDS) in response to feedback from local communities around its existing wind farms.

Environment Minister Alex Attwood said: "I welcome this initiative from RES. I am committed to ensuring that communities living near wind farms gain the right community benefits from hosting renewable energy developments.

"The RES Local Electricity Discount Scheme has been developed in response to feedback from local communities living close to RES wind farms and I commend them for taking this step.

"I believe renewable energy is the single biggest economic opportunity for this island and that the transition to a low carbon economy can be developed in a way that respects and benefits local communities."

The Minister continued: "I am also convening a Community Benefits Summit through the community and the planning organisation Community Places which will take place on 5th June. This summit will work through, for example, how Scotland's Community Benefits Strategy can be replicated here. There is more to achieve on this - I will work with renewable and other developers to achieve more."

LEDS will apply to all future RES wind farms in Northern Ireland.

The company currently has planning applications for developments at Altaveedan near Loughguile, Barr Cregg near Claudy and Craiggore near Garvagh.

Residents close to these sites could be the first to benefit from LEDS in Northern Ireland. RES says over 600 properties could be eligible for a £200 discount off their electricity bills each year when the wind farms become operational.

The Scheme lasts for the operational lifetime of a wind farm; estimated at about 25 years.

Lucy Whitford, Head of Development for Ireland with RES, announcing the LEDS initiative, said: "We are committed to delivering genuine benefits to the communities that host our wind farms and believe that today's launch will be widely recognised as setting a new benchmark for the industry.

"From consulting with communities near both existing and potential development sites, it became clear that being able to reduce electricity bills was a practical benefit that communities would be really keen to see.

"LEDS is an additional benefit to RES's Community Benefit Funds, which at our new sites provide £2,000 per megawatt annual contributions to local community groups. This means that local communities will receive a total of £5,000 per megawatt per year in community benefit at all new RES sites. To put that into perspective, the total benefits being offered at Altaveedan, Craiggore and Barr Cregg range from £1.5m to £2.2m over each project's lifetime."

RES first introduced the scheme at its proposed site in Bryn Llywelyn in Carmarthenshire, Wales, in the summer of 2012.

The company hopes it will be able to extend LEDS across the UK and Ireland.

(IT/CD)