Burcote Wind and ERG, developers of the consented Sandy Knowe Wind Farm in Upper Nithsdale, are hosting a Business Breakfast at Dumfries and Galloway College on Friday to promote the opportunities for local businesses to work with them on their projects in Dumfries and Galloway.
The developers are offering Dumfries and Galloway based companies a 5% price advantage when tendering for contracts related to their Sandy Knowe Wind Farm, and are now looking to meet with interested local businesses.
The event will be held at Dumfries and Galloway College (Bankend Road, Dumfries, DG1 4FD) on Friday 18th November at 09:30am and will include breakfast, networking and an opportunity for local businesses to meet with Burcote and ERG one to one to discuss potential contracts arising from the wind farm development.
The event will be hosted in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway College, Dumfries and Galloway Chamber of Commerce and Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Earlier this year Burcote and ERG received consent for the 24 turbine Sandy Knowe Wind Farm in Upper Nithsdale. Each turbine would have a tip height up to 125m, with the project having a total installed capacity of 48MW. As part of the application the companies offered a considerable Community Benefit Fund (CBF) of up to £240,000 per year, or up to approximately £6 million over the 25 year lifespan of the wind farm. They also agreed a substantial community ownership model with the local communities up to the equivalent of one turbine. This means that 4.17% of the net profits of the wind farm annually would be shared with the community.
Alongside their local procurement policy, Burcote Wind has also reiterated their commitment to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CS Wind (formerly Wind Towers Scotland) to work with the Machrihanish based turbine tower manufacturer on all of its Scottish projects to ensure that significant economic benefit is retained in Scotland.
Burcote and ERG are also proposing to develop the ten turbine Longburn Wind Farm near Carsphairn and the 17 turbine Creggan Wind Farm in Argyll and Bute and have committed to replicating their model at all of their projects.
Fraser Campbell, Operations Director at Burcote Wind said:
“Burcote and ERG believe it is important to ensure that as much benefit as possible is kept within the local communities around our projects. That is why we have offered both community ownership and community benefit to the local communities. It is also why we have committed to a preferential local procurement policy across all our Scottish projects. We are now keen to meet as many local businesses as possible to build a network of local contractors who can work with us across our interests in Dumfries and Galloway.”
“I would welcome local businesses based in Dumfries and Galloway who would like to work with us to come along on Friday and learn more about the opportunities that are available.”
Burcote Wind are a Scottish renewables company based in Dunfermline who have been operating since 2009 and have an active portfolio of onshore wind projects, including the consented Sandy Knowe Wind Farm near Kirkconnel and Kelloholm and the proposed Longburn Wind Farm near Carsphairn.
Burcote recently announced a development partnership with ERG Group, who are an Italian company based in Genoa and have been operating successfully in the energy sector for over 70 years. ERG Renew is the wholly owned renewable energy subsidiary of ERG, which focuses entirely on onshore wind energy. ERG has a strong track record in the development, construction, financing and management of wind farms and are now the leading wind energy operator in Italy with an installed capacity of over 1GW.
Sandy Knowe Wind Farm 