February 3, 2016
Scotland

Fife Council scraps green energy scheme amid pressure to settle equal pay claims

3 February 2016 | www.thecourier.co.uk

A multi-million-pound Fife Council initiative to produce its own green energy has been scrapped in a bid to claw back the authority’s massive historic equal pay deficit.

Plans to construct wind turbines as part of the national Feed-in-Tariff scheme will no longer be carried forward after local authority officials found the project to no longer be financially viable.

It follows a review of the Government scheme last month, which has seen reductions in support and subsidies for those producing electricity.

Fife Council had hoped to construct a series of wind turbines and contribute to the project, however, only one proposed wind turbine, at Lower Melville Wood near Ladybank, will now operate, with a connection to the national energy network expected shortly.

Ken Gourlay, the council’s head of assets for transportation and environment, acknowledged that dropping the project was a blow for the body’s green credentials but that no alternative could be identified.

“There is now substantial risk attached to progressing projects that require subsidy to be financially viable,” he said.

“The Lower Melville Wood wind power development is nearing completion and through pre-accreditation will receive subsidy at the pre-review level.

“The remainder of the proposed wind power projects will no longer provide return at a level which mitigates the risk of substantial investment within a subsidy scheme that provides no certainty of support.”

Scrapping the project has released £9.7 million, which will help settle equal pay claims against Fife Council of £50m.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/02/03/fife-council-scraps-green-energy-scheme-amid-pressure-to-settle-equal-pay-claims/