Community wind farm support plea

A FORMER MP for the Western Isles is calling on the UK Government to provide new support for community- owned wind farms.

Calum MacDonald, who manages Britain’s largest community- owned wind farm at Beinn Ghrideag on Lewis, has called for the introduction of a new scheme to promote the growth of community energy projects.

After meeting with the Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell MP, Mr MacDonald is pressing for a new category of community- owned wind farms to be included in the Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) subsidy scheme, currently restricted to only large-scale offshore wind farms. Mr MacDonald said: ‘The only thing now holding back the rapid growth of the community sector in the UK is the shortage of banks willing to lend on the same normal, commercial terms as they lend to the corporate sector.’