This month, New Findhorn Directions announced a 2% average rise in the electricity price at the Park. Energy prices have been head line news recently, with many people experiencing price rises in the region of 50%. The modest Park price increase was achieved by Findhorn Wind Park fixing the price of our grid import before electricity prices soared by 33% in the last six months.

Sometime before autumn 2022, FWP must enter a new contract for the Park import power for 2023. We will monitor the market and achieve the lowest price possible, however the signs are that prices will still be high. Should this be the case, the high costs some are experiencing now would come to the Park starting in January 2023.

2021 also saw about 30 UK energy suppliers fail. If the Park’s current grid supplier joins the list, FWP would need to enter a new contract at the prevailing rates. This could result in another price rise before January 2023.

We feel it is best Park residents are forewarned of electricity price increases. You may wish to review your individual energy use and take what conservation measures you can before more significant price rises occur.

We are pleased to say that in our financial year ending last October, Findhorn Wind Park production exceeded the total demand for electricity in the Park during the same period. Furthermore, we have a 100% renewable import contract.

• FWP generated 1,186MWh of renewable electricity from our wind turbines and PV arrays.
• In addition, we estimate private PV systems generated a further 42-48MWh of renewable electricity.
• The Park Ecovillage usage was 1,125MWh, so on-site generation exceeded total demand by 9.4%.  
• FWP also exported 591MWh of renewable power when the wind turbines generated more than the Park could use, saving a significant amount of CO2e off site.

Findhorn Wind Park imports power from the grid when we can’t meet the demand of the Park Ecovillage from our wind turbines. During the last 4 years we saw the loss of 10% of our production capacity with the decommissioning of Moya, our Vestas 75kWwind turbine, combined with various mechanical issues with our other turbines, the latter now thankfully now resolved. As a growing ecovillage we have also seen a 4.5% increase in demand over this period. The increased use of air source heat pumps, electric vehicles and the general building expansion at the Park Ecovillage has been tempered by energy awareness-raising and various efficiency measures.

We are pleased to say that over the past year Findhorn Wind Park has been able to meet 95% of the Ecovillage electricity demand. Private photovoltaic (PV) generation on the site is estimated to have provided an additional 3.5% to 4% of the site’s demand. (The impact of the PV is hard to determine precisely.) Furthermore, we have a 100% renewable import contract and as a consequence the Park Ecovillage produced zero carbon emissions from its electricity usage.

• FWP generated 1,112MWh of renewable electricity from our wind turbines and PV arrays.
• In addition, we estimate private PV systems generated a further 42-48MWh of renewable electricity.
• The Park Ecovillage usage was 1,172MWh, so 98.5% to 99% of total demand was created on site.
• FWP also exported 544MWh of renewable power when the wind turbines generated more than the Park could use, saving a significant amount of CO2e off site.

April 2016 to March 2017

Findhorn Wind Park imports power from the grid when we can’t meet the demand of the Park Ecovillage exceeds production from our wind turbines. For the first seven months of this period we were not able to secure a 100% renewable import contract and as a consequence the Park Ecovillage produced some carbon emissions.

• FWP generated 755MWh of renewable electricity and the Park EcoVillage usage was 1,119MWh.
• Of the total power used at the Park 76% was renewable (from FWP & the grid) and 24% was from non-renewable sources, imported when the wind did not blow strongly enough to meet the Park demand.
• The non-renewable power imported produced 107.8 Tonnes CO2e.
• FWP also exported 311MWh of renewable power when the wind turbines generated more than the Park could use, saving 79.1 Tonnes CO2e off site.
• Overall, Park electricity consumption led to a net carbon footprint of 28.7 Tonnes CO2e. This is 25.6g CO2e per kWh consumed compared to a national average of 254 g CO2e per kWh for the year from April 2016 to March 2017.

April 2017 to March 2018

• FWP generated 999MWh of renewable electricity and the Park EcoVillage usage was 1,233MWh.
• All the power used at the Park was renewable as we had a 100% ‘green’ import contract throughout this period.
• FWP exported 399MWh of renewable power when the wind turbines generated more than the Park could use. This saves CO2 emissions off site, but quantifying this saving requires updated fuel mix data to be released late in 2018. Hopefully the new national average will be significantly lower than the previous year.

The yaw ring is a large toothed ring at the top of the tower. The nacelle is the box at the top containing the gearbox and generator and with the rotor attached. This is driven around the yaw ring to keep the rotor facing the wind.

We knew there was one broken tooth. On 14th January a second neighbouring tooth broke and Beauty needs a new yaw ring before she can work again. The repair involves completely removing the rotor and nacelle from the tower using a big crane, replacing the steel ring and putting the nacelle and rotor back in place.

We hope to have the repair completed by mid-February. Among other things, this will be dependent on the weather being suitable for the crane.

You can see an article on Moya, our first wind turbine, on the Findhorn Foundation web site here.

Sadly it is not economic to repair Moya, our 25 year old Vestas V17 turbine. There will be a celebration of her contribution to the Findhorn Foundation Community at noon on the Field of Dreams green, Sunday 2nd of August. Please join us.

On June 23rd the new gearbox was installed in Beauty. It is very smooth running and our engineers report that she is now quieter than similar new turbines they have serviced.

The engineers found the main shaft of Moya is broken. This is a major breakdown and we will have to review the future of the turbine. At almost 26 years old, just like an old car, it may no longer be economic to repair our oldest turbine.

Moya is our smaller and older V17 turbine. In the recent high winds, two stall tips have ‘popped’ leaving the tips of the blades twisted in relation to the main section of the blade. This is a protection mechanism to prevent the rotor from turning too fast. Our engineers will need to visit to check things over and reset the tips.