The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Hot new project being planned at Logie
The Logie Estate turbine is on a knoll at Fairy Hillock, near Forres, on a site that was thought to be windy enough not to need a trial anemometer (wind speed measuring device).
Scaled Energy operations director Andrew DouglasMiller said the Endurance machine was the best suited for the site. It can optionally have a 120ft (36m) tower. Logie’s turbine has an 80ft (24m) monopole tower.
“The cost of an installation varies quite a lot,” said Mr Douglas Miller. The 80 f t machine costs £202,000 but then there many variables to take into account such as the distance to the grid connection, access roads for construction and the ground itself.
“If the site has a poor load-bearing capacity then extra work is required and it is important not to underestimate crane- hire costs especially in short winter days when there are fewer working hours.”
“We reckon that a project such as the Logie one will take nine months to a year from first inquiry to completion. There has been some pressure across the industry with feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) for the output from a 50kw turbine dropping from 25.4p per kilowatt hour to 21p from December 1.”
This turbine is not the only renewable project underway atLogie. Estate factor David Smart, of Strutt and Parker, has recently
“We reckon that a project such as the Logie one will take nine months to a year from first inquiry to completion”
commissioned Fo r t William-based Highland Wood Energy to construct a 190kw capacity biomass district heating scheme. This will supply hot water for central heating in five houses, a swimming pool, 10 commercial units, two offices and a swimming pool.
The scheme will replace amix of oil-fired boilers, in- cluding two in Logie House, and some expensive-to-run electric storage heaters.
The scheme will cost over £300,000 with payback expected in 13 to 15 years. It is eligible for the UK Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
Mr Smart, the Logie factor for 10 years, said: “One of the big attractions is that we will be able to maximise the use of our own small round wood. It will be naturally air-dried for 18 to 24 months and then chipped ready for use. We will use a high-lift trailer to tip into the boiler intake hopper every week to 10 days.”
The heat produced in the central boiler will then be piped to the various properties, the farthest ofwhich is 200m ( 656ft) from source. The biomass scheme will be run as a trading business with heat sold to tenants at a lower cost than conventional energy.
Buildingworkstartsnext week and the home-produced heat should be flowing round Logie by the end of November.