GEOGRAPHY SHOULD NOT BE A BARRIER TO HARNESSING GREEN ELECTRICITY

• Orenda CEO claims that small investors, private landowners and farmers need parity with large power suppliers. • UK government needs to facilitate a change in legislation which harmonises the rules for everyone and promotes fairness for the small wind turbine owner

Edinburgh, UK: Thursday 12th October 2017: The Chief Executive of one of the UKs leading small wind turbine manufacturers has called on the UK Government to examine ways of relaxing current legislation which would allow individuals to produce ‘green electricity supply from their own turbines located on ‘wind friendly landscapes within the UK and allow access to the equivalent amount of energy generated by these turbines from the local grid.


Gerry Lalonde, Chief Executive of Orenda Energy Solutions wants to see a relaxation of the laws to help encourage the small wind industry to leverage a higher share of the wind energy market and not be impinged by rigid planning laws and ‘red tape which often puts off prospective small turbine users wishing to be self-sufficient in their energy usage.

His blueprint would see a relaxation of supply rules to enable individual private owners, farmers and small businesses siting a turbine within a ‘small wind farm in areas of the country that predominantly have high wind speed exposure, irrespective of location.

Mr Lalonde comments;

"One of the primary concerns facing the small wind energy industry is a geographical one, based purely on supply and demand whereby the supply is not being efficiently matched to that demand. For example, current legislation prohibits any ‘green energy consumer based, say, on the South Coast of England, to purchase a wind turbine and locate it hundreds of miles away in the North of Scotland. I see no logical reason why they shouldnt be allowed to export energy to the grid and use the same generated amount of electricity from the grid where they are domiciled?

"The situation greatly differs for a large utility company that might own a mega-watt wind farm. It may have the resources to become a re-seller. However, for an individual who owns one or two small turbines, this is currently very hard to achieve."

Mr Lalonde is keen to see a time when 100,000 kW hours of green electricity placed onto the grid, by a rurally located small turbine, gives the owner parity to draw the same amount -100,000 kilowatt hours from the grid and not have to pay for it, other than perhaps transportation charges or a management fee.

However, he is realistic in his assertion that this may not be easily achievable in the short term without government intervention and this goes some way to restrict the progress and overall development of small wind farms in the UK.

"I know of a company in Liverpool that spends almost £700,000 a year buying electricity. It was planning to specify solar panelling and erect a small wind turbine to giving them a level of self-sufficiency. A site inspection revealed, that the location was not viable for a turbine. The street they were located on was mostly residential, so there was little separation distance between them and the residents.

"Moreover, under test conditions the wind speed on that site was very poor, averaging 5.4 metres per second. For this company, wind energy at this location was simply not viable.

"However, they would be more than happy to rent some land in northern Scotland in high wind areas such as Caithness, or Aberdeenshire, erect three or four turbines across the area where significant wind speeds will bring them a surfeit of electrical power. Separation by 400 + miles should not be a barrier to adopt wind energy. We need to be more efficient in our use of this power and as it stands, we need to somehow find the missing piece in this jigsaw", Mr Lalonde reaffirmed.

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About Orenda Energy Solutions:

Orenda Energy Solutions is an investor, site developer and manufacturer of a fully integrated wind turbine system for the rural segment of the small distributed wind industry. Orendas 49kW Skye™ wind turbine is the solution of choice for farmers, large acreage landowners, and wind park developers and investors.

See more at: www.orendaenergy.com

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For further information, please contact Kevin Dorrian at Acumen on 0)44 131 661 7027
email - kevin.dorrian@acumen-pr.com : twitter @acumenpr

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