WindEnergyUpdate interviews Steven Pottinger, director of the controversial Baillie windfarm in Scotland, about community engagement strategy, going it alone as a developer and Scotland’s grid access issues.

By Rikki Stancich in Paris

In mid-January, the Scottish Government consented two onshore wind projects and an extension to an existing wind farm.

These projects will add an additional combined capacity of more than 215 megawatts (MW) of additional renewable energy to Scotland’s portfolio, providing enough energy to power 100,000 homes.

Among the projects is the controversial Baillie wind farm, located near Thurso, Scotland. Backed by Norwegian energy heavyweight, Statkraft, Baillie wind farm was given the greenlight by the Scottish Parliament earlier this month despite widespread criticism from local residents. The £80 million project will be plugging into the Beuly-Denny line, which is primed for an upgrade.

WindEnergyUpdate catches up with the project developer of the 52MW Baillie wind farm, Steven Pottinger, to find out what takes to secure planning consent against the odds.

WindEnergyUpdate: The Baillie wind farm site provides an interesting story insofar as it has been considered by various developers for more than a decade, only to finally be developed by the landowners themselves. What prompted you to undertake the development in the first instance?

Steven Pottinger: A couple of developers looked at the site as far back as the early 90s.  One Danish company carried out studies but did not win a tender under the support regime at that time. 

We were however, convinced that it was an excellent site.  In 2002, my brother Tom and I decided to take the site forward ourselves and brought in some of our neighbouring landowners to tailor a better layout. 

We felt that we could raise funding and access the right skills and resources to take it forward, whilst assuming the project management role ourselves.   

WindEnergyUpdate: What key challenges have you overcome in order to obtaining
approval for the Baillie wind farm?

Steven Pottinger: Environmental concerns in respect of ornithology, a concern over the setting of a nearby Scheduled Ancient Monument and some local opposition were all key.

We overcame most formal consultee concerns including Scottish Natural Heritage but Highland Council members  objected contrary to their own planning officials recommendation triggering a public inquiry.

Funding the increasing costs along the way and dealing with the various delays were also challenges.

Although we felt we had fully covered all issues through discussion with key consultees and a layout change, in the end of the day the decision came down to the Inquiry Reporter and the Government whose report and decision we are obviously delighted with.

WindEnergyUpdate:  From a community engagement perspective, would you say it has been advantageous that as the developer you are also a community member? If
so, are there lessons that could be extrapolated to other projects?

Steven Pottinger: This is a double-edged sword. Local knowledge, support and contacts certainly helped put the site together and take it forward but local opposition can get a bit personal and you are in the front line if you live locally as Tom and his family do.

WindEnergyUpdate: The Baillie wind project will be connected to the grid via the
Beauly-Denny transmission line, which is due to undergo an upgrade. Will the Baillie Wind Farm be funding any part of this upgrade?

Steven Pottinger: The costs of the Beauly Denny upgrade were authorised by the regulator, Ofgem, some time ago but other upgrades, particularly between Beauly to Dounreay, have not been fully authorised so the Transmission Operators still require security from Developers.

This "final sums security", which can rise to many millions is a huge barrier and makes it very hard for new entrants to stay the course.

In these post credit crunch times there is no way for independents to  bank fund these sums and  this sytem needs urgent review. 

The industry giants, who meet certain credit criterion, do not have to post security, which I feel gives them a huge advantage and could be seen as discriminating against new entrants.

WindEnergyUpdate: Currently renewable energy generators in Scotland pay much higher grid connection fees than their counterparts in England. As a developer, what are your views on the National Grid’s rate system and how could it be improved?

Steven Pottinger: There seems to be wide recognition that this system is outdated, based on a misconception of how power flows and where to.

It is unrealistic to think that the current system will encourage renewable developers to build the scale of wind farms needed in the South or West of England where there is a far poorer wind regime and more difficult planning issues.

One just needs to look at the scale of Clyde and Whitelee windfarms to see where the resource is.

Scotland has not only a better wind resource; it has the space to accommodate large wind farms, which make a real contribution.

Those opposing change really need to look to security of supply and CO2 targets and ask themselves if the current regime is going to achieve what the country needs.

I do not know anyone in the industry who thinks the current system is appropriate.