The Spiorad na Mara project – a proposed offshore windfarm located approximately 5 to 13km off the west coast of the Isle of Lewis – has appointed Aquatera as independent consultants to lead public consultation on community benefits. This follows the commitment made last August to establish a community benefit fund for the island’s west coast.
Aquatera, an Orkney-based company with extensive experience in environmental services and public consultation locally in Scotland and the Western Isles, will oversee two key strands of consultation. The first will focus on the governance and potential uses of the ringfenced West Coast Fund. The second will explore broader community benefits that the Spiorad na Mara project could deliver to the Isle of Lewis and the Western Isles, should it proceed.
The selection of Aquatera followed a competitive process led by Northland Power and the West Side Estates Group.
Martin Whyte, Project Director for Spiorad na Mara, commented: “This appointment marks a significant step in our commitment to ensuring that the Spiorad na Mara project brings meaningful, long-term benefits to local communities and to the Western Isles. We’ve been impressed with Aquatera’s approach and their focus on encouraging broad community participation, ensuring all voices are heard.”
Ian Johnstone, Director of Aquatera, said that he and his team are excited by this opportunity and committed to making the process as community-centred as possible.
“We are delighted to support the consultation process with the West Coast community and the wider community in Lewis to ensure broad engagement with individuals and groups and that the community benefit scheme derived from the Spiorad na Mara development is fair, equitable and accessible by all. As a company based in Orkney, we are looking forward to bringing our experience in renewable energy developments in the context of island communities, including the nuances and sensitivities that are at play in these.”
Aquatera will deliver two outcomes: a detailed proposal for managing and administering the West Coast Fund and a refined list of wider community benefits for further exploration as the project develops.
The consultation process will get underway in the next month and all activities associated with it will be advertised by Aquatera, within local media and through local networks and communications channels. In the meantime, any questions can be addressed directly to Claudia Sans at Aquatera, claudia.sans@aquatera.co.uk.
Spiorad na Mara is owned by Northland Power (75.5%) and ESB (24.5%), with Northland leading on the development, construction, and operation.
Further information is available at www.spioradnamara.co.uk.
Contact:
Denise Horan
Consultation and Local Engagement Lead, Northland Power
+44 (0)73 96818000
denise.horan@northlandpower.com
About Spiorad na Mara
Spiorad na Mara is a proposed offshore windfarm, located approximately 5-13 km off the west coast of Lewis. With an expected installed capacity of around 900 MW, it could meet the equivalent average annual electricity needs of around 1.2 million1 Scottish homes with renewable electricity and save more than 1.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
Further information is available at www.spioradnamara.co.uk
1 More than 1.2 million homes powered per annum based on the average Scottish annual household electricity consumption of 3,078 kWh in 2022 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/regional-and-local-authority-electricity-consumption-statistics) together with a minimum projected 50% wind load factor and a projected installed capacity of up to 900MW.
About Northland Power
Northland Power is a global power producer dedicated to helping the clean energy transition by producing electricity from clean, renewable resources. Founded in 1987, Northland has a long history of developing, building, owning and operating clean and green power infrastructure assets and is a global leader in offshore wind. In addition, Northland owns and manages a diversified generation mix including onshore renewables, natural gas energy, as well as supplying energy through a regulated utility.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with global offices in eight countries, Northland owns or has an economic interest in approximately 3.2GW (net 2.8GW) of operating capacity. The Company also has a significant inventory of projects in construction and in various stages of development encompassing approximately 12GW of potential capacity.
Publicly traded since 1997, Northland’s common shares, Series 1 and Series 2 preferred shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols NPI, NPI.PR.A and NPI.PR.B, respectively.
About ESB
ESB is involved in six offshore wind projects and 2GW of onshore wind projects in Scotland, as part of its drive for a 5GW renewable electricity portfolio across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain by 2030. Since its foundation almost 100 years ago, ESB has always been fully invested in the lives of the customers and communities we serve. We have set a target to achieve net zero by 2040 and have committed to do this in a way that enables communities and natural habitats to thrive. Our focus is on developing and connecting renewables, building resilient infrastructure and empowering our customers to live healthier, more sustainable lives using clean electricity.
