Power Shift / The Hebridean wind rush – A growth opportunity for global corporations but not community owned energy?
- As part of the Power Shift project, we publish articles from across Scotland on how fair the transition to net zero really is
- Shetland’s experiences are not unique as this account from North Lewis demonstrates
- Power Shift is a collaborative project of 10 local news organisations from across Scotland, including Shetland News, with support from the Tenacious Journalism awards
A HEBRIDEAN wind rush is gathering momentum. But as global corporations secure space on the new SSEN interconnector planned for development between Stornoway and Ullapool, some of the Community Energy Companies based on the Isle of Lewis are getting pushed aside, writes Netty Sopata of Fios.
On the 12 January 2007 after a long campaign, Galson Estate, consisting of 56,000 acres in the north of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, passed into community ownership – instigated, in part, in protest to plans for an industrial scale, onshore wind farm proposed by commercial developers – AMEC.
The estate, managed on behalf of the community by Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn, (UOG) now receives income from three Enercon 900kW wind turbines connected to the grid through the existing interconnector between Harris and Skye – the first of these were installed in 2013 and the latter two in 2015.¹
These three turbines generate, on average, 8,871 MWhs per annum (in total) and crucially, over ten years later, supply an income to the estate that supports up to eighteen employees, has contributed £600,000² to community organisations (through their community investment fund) and provides a cohesive, physical foundation upon which the future needs of the community can be built.
UOG is by no means the only community owned estate in the Outer Hebrides. Neither does it demonstrate the only example of community owned renewable energy. Point and Sandwick Trust have three 3MW wind turbines, Tolsta Community Development and Horshader Community Development each have one 900kW turbine, Uist Wind has two 900kW turbines, Storas Uibhist has three 2.3MW turbines and Barra and Vatersay Community has one 900kW turbine.
A question of capacity
As these community energy companies have evolved, so too has the financial and well-being investment into the communities they are connected to. It would make sense, therefore, for them to want to expand, to grow and to reinvest profits into generating more renewable energy.
However, to do this, communities need access to more export capacity – this was requested when SSEN was forced to replace an aged subsea cable from Harris to Skye in 2021. Yet, despite endless discussions and lobbying, SSEN was unwilling to ensure increased capacity for the new cable and a like-for-like cable was subsequently laid – with no prospect of new projects being supported.
Alongside this, SSEN has been planning for a major interconnector to export electricity to market from larger planned wi farms. Initially, the scale envisaged was 450 or 600MW but investment from global energy companies in the offshore Scotwind leases surrounding the Outer Hebrides has resulted in advanced planning for a new, 1,800MW SSEN interconnector from Stornoway to Dundonnell near Ullapool.
Communities have now switched their attention to securing space on this for future projects. These include Point and Sandwick Development Trust, Knock and Swordale Community Company and a consortium of three community landowners on the west side of Lewis referred to as West Coast Community Energy – of which UOG is part of. These community owned energy companies have jumped through hoops, completed their paperwork and secured additional space on the new, 1,800MW SSEN interconnector – or so they thought.
Over the past six years, Knock and Swordale, Community Company (KSCC) have had a mixed experience with SSEN. Angus Macdonald explained to Fios, that over this time period, KSCC have secured planning consent for one 6MW wind turbine and by 2020 were confident that two key aspects of the project – planning permission and grid connection – were aligned and crucially, secured. A lease was agreed with The Stornoway Trust and in 2019 a grid connection was offered and accepted (pending the completion of the interconnector, then set for 2023). At the time, SSEN were pressing for a 600MW interconnector and Ofgem was minded to permit a 450MW interconnector.
However, the completion date for the proposed new interconnector was pushed back, first to 2025, then to 2027. Then, in 2023, with the huge increase in electricity generation expected from offshore wind farms under ScotWind, Ofgem approved a 1.8GW interconnector – three times the size SSEN originally discussed.
In the autumn of 2023, KSCC were asked by SSEN to re-apply for their previously confirmed 6MW capacity on the new interconnector to enable SSEN to assess capacity demand – involving not just the amount of time required to re-file paperwork, but also another fee of £12,000. To keep the project on track, the process was completed, and once again KSCC received a firm offer from SSEN for the same capacity on the new interconnector.
In March 2024, in a meeting with SSEN, KSCC were informed that Active Network Management (ANM)³ grid access only would be available for new community energy projects. But KSCC’s project wasn’t new and had twice been made a firm connection offer. However, a minute of the meeting documented that KSCC were informed that their connection would now be an ANM one. This was not accepted by KSCC and was challenged in writing as a misrepresentation of what had been discussed.
Active Network Management grid access
An ANM connection means that a company can only generate power when the capacity is not taken up by the large-scale commercial developments, thus reducing the economic viability of projects and the ability to secure finance for them. Despite assurances from SSEN that they will revisit the connection status; further clarification is still awaited. KSCC have been told they will join the interconnector in October 2033, 19 years after they started to plan their Community Energy project. No reason has been given for the delay of three years from the expected interconnector energisation in 2030. Neither has any clarification been given about why SSEN now want to change a firm grid connection, which was offered and paid for twice, to an ANM connection. In the meantime, KSCC has taken part in what is known as the ‘Gate 2’ process, to winnow out projects that are ready to proceed, such as KSCC’s project, from mere speculative proposals in order to assess grid capacity requirements.
The issue of an ANM connection is by no means a problem KSCC are navigating alone. Earlier this month an email was sent from SSEN to WCCE giving them under 24hrs to accept an alternative offer for standby space on the new interconnector – failure to accept would have meant restarting the grid application process. They had previously been advised that capacity was available for their project. This means many things, but crucially for WCCE, they will struggle to secure the £70 Million required to fund their proposed community energy project of 43MW. WCCE directors have reluctantly accepted this offer, on the understanding and hope that the irregular ‘queuing system’ for the interconnector capacity, coordinated by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) will be re-evaluated in the new year under the aforementioned ‘Gate 2’ process. As Neil Mackinnon, Development Manager, UOG, commented: “Grid connections are typically the single most challenging aspect of any community energy project. The announcement of a new 1.8-Gigawatt interconnector in late 2022 gave fresh impetus to the West Coast Community Energy project and that appeared to be the missing piece of the puzzle for the three community partners. However, the reality is turning out to be very different. Incredibly, demand has now outstripped the capacity available even though the interconnector is still 5 years away. Although the initial set of grid offers received suggested that West Coast Community Energy had achieved one of its main goals for the project, it is clear that the opportunity has passed by for now. There is still some hope that capacity could be freed up in the years ahead if other projects are reduced in scale or don’t proceed and the partners intend to continue with key tasks such as a planning application next year.”
The current Interconnector capacity division is representative of the focus of this report: Of the projects listed (see TABLE 1) none are community owned windfarms (although there is one community owned battery project that has secured 25MW of the 1,800MW capacity) and of the eight projects only four have secured planning permission. In comparison, KSCC have secured consent but have had their agreed allocation of space removed. Understandably, questions are being asked – not only why has this happened, but why has this been permitted to happen and what is going to be done to alter it?
Amplifying the voice of community owned energy
WCCE may have accepted the current offer from SSEN, but to prompt decisions to improve the ‘queue’ and allocation of space to support community owned energy, they have been vocal about the un-just system of allocation. In early August they raised the issue with Torcuil Crichton MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, he, in turn, raised the issue in the House of Commons with Ed Miliband Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero who commented: “Let me take away the point he raises about this access question…we are committed to driving forward community energy and we will talk to NESO and OFGEM to get it right and make sure it happens.” In July 2024, Ed Miliband also said in a speech in the House of Commons: “GB Energy will oversee the biggest expansion of community energy in history through the Local Power Plan.” To date, GB Energy has provided c.£5m to the Scottish Government Community and Renewable Energy Scheme Fund in 2025/26 and completed a partnership agreement with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
At a recent Scottish Labour community discussion, representatives from both UOG KSCC voiced their frustrations and a group of political representatives, inclusive of Anas Sawar MSP (and Scottish Labour Leader)[4]. All agreed that more support and clarity were required for Community Energy, with Anas Sawar raising the point that what we mean by community ownership in relation to community energy, needs to be revisited. Clarifying that: “The terms used are too loose. There needs to be a genuine conversation about how we deliver community ownership within this transformative sector and to do this there are two structural areas that need to be addressed – access to and the structure of the national grid and the Scottish planning system which is completely defunct and not fit for purpose.”
On Friday 15 August, Fios highlighted in person and directly to the First Minister of Scotland – John Swinney – the situation of community energy companies having reduced access to the grid through the new interconnector. The First Minister made it very clear that when he had recently been in talks with NESO, alongside Gillian Martin (Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy) they had been assured that this type of activity would not occur. He confirmed that he would take away what had been raised and look into it, he also expressed that he would welcome representations from the parties involved.
Positive support from political representatives is, of course, encouraging, but how that support will influence the ‘Queue’ system, redress the imbalance of power in allocation of space on the new interconnector, and ultimately the potential for the continued success for models of community owned energy companies is yet to be seen. What is clear though, is that whilst community owned estates like UOG ride out the wait and pivot and push and plan to safeguard the future of the communities they are invested in, they will not stop moving forward. Plans are a-foot for considerable investment in new housing projects within the estate, and it is possible that SSEN may be one of the key investors in one of these projects. Although this potential investment would be to facilitate accommodation for some of the estimated 1,500 workforce required during the construction phase of the interconnector project, the housing development would remain in the ownership of UOG and thus community.
So, a community owned estate that generates a sustainable income through community energy, has reached the stage of being able to identify the need and plan for affordable rural housing for the community. And yet, potentially, to facilitate the initial stages of this development, investment may be provided by the very entity that is also potentially influencing the growth of the community energy group associated with the community owned estate. The complexity of this riddle is indicative of one thing – the only certainty when it comes to the impending ‘Hebridean Wind Rush’ is that it is complicated and so very, very important to understand.
Response from SSEN directly linked to a query on why the two community energy companies mentioned above have only been offered ANM connections:
“As part of the industry-wide and long-established grid connections process, overseen by the National Energy System Operator and regulated by Ofgem, distribution connection offers are often subject to what is known as a Transmission Impact Assessment, which is clearly set out in grid connection contract offers.
“With the proposed 1.8GW transmission link already contractually over-subscribed, assuming all contracted onshore and offshore wind farms connect to their full contracted capacity, additional generation connections will be subject to an Active Network Management scheme.
“We remain committed to work with all prospective renewable energy developers across the Western Isles to help them connect to the grid and continue to advocate for industry reforms to help community generators overcome barriers.”
Notes:
[1] These wind turbines are operated by Galson Energy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Urras Energy Society. The Society was set up in 2014 to manage a community share offer that closed at the end of February 2015 and achieved a total of £705,800 from 167 investors who are now the shareholders.
[2] This amount has been contributed to community organisations, by UOG, since 2014.
[3] An Active Network Management (ANM) system continually monitors all the constraints on an area of the electricity network, in real-time, and allocates the maximum amount of capacity available to customers in that area based on the date their connection was accepted.
[4] Torcuil Crichton MP, Rhoda Grant, MSP and MSP Scottish Labour candidate for Na h-Eileanan an Iar – Donald Mackinnon were also in attendance at the event.
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