Chief Executive of MUA, Phil King says that the electricity provider needs to “build some trust and confidence” from the general public.
Manx Utilities Authority wants views from Manx residents on the proposed and somewhat controversial wind farm at Earystane.
King says: “We’re really keen to set these consultations up and not just show what we’ve done to date, but actually actively listen to the feedback.”
Specialists will be in attendance at the consultations who “can predict the sort of things residents might be interested in”.
The Authority wants to be able to answer the questions residents may have “there and then”, and not hide “anything at all” about the project.
The consultations will offer an immersive experience through a virtual reality 360 headset arrangement so people can see up close how the wind farm will appear.
No Funding in Place
With government coming in over budget and now attempting to save £10million across departments, along with key health services being cut, how does the Authority intend to validate the cost of the wind farm?
King hopes that the wind farm will ‘”fix” the energy price for many years to come, and that price will also allow the Isle of Man to be a bit more independent.
Phil King told Manx.News: “There’s no funding in place at the moment, so we’re at the development phase of the project.
“So what that entails is looking at all the costs, all the risks, and putting certainty into them so we can firm up that price, so that when we do apply for funding, we’ve got a good degree of confidence in that cost.
“Of course, there will always be unknowns, and we need to be really clear about what those residual risks are, quantify them as best as we can and put suitable contingencies in.”
£40 Million?
At the development phase of the project, MUA is now projecting the cost to be close to be £40million.
King told Manx.news that the Authority “tried to explain we’re at the development phase. We’re looking at a lot of things”.
He says it hasn’t got a preferred manufacturer and there’s a lot of “unknowns” in there.
To date around £1.6million has been spent on the work on the environmental impact assessment for the project.
Affordability
The thought on a lot of peoples minds is that this project is being railroaded through for a political agenda, and not that of genuinely affordable and green power.
Mr King says that the wind farm “stands every chance of keeping a firm cap on energy electricity prices and perhaps reducing them”.
MUA is forecast to spend around £35million on gas to fuel the power stations.
King added: “So if you reduce a quarter of your energy, you reduce the cost quite a bit there.”
“If you get the funding arrangements and the cost model right, it stands every chance of keeping our customers prices as low as possible,” King said.
Not Set in Stone
Manx Utilities is obliged to produce or buy the cheapest electricity it can find for its customers under the current Electricity Act.
However, the chief executive says it is talking to a lot of private sector organisations for connections to offshore wind farms, and talking to private sector organisations on the island.
He said: “If anybody has a better commercial proposition that can keep that price low for our customers, we’re all open ears.”
King’s concern is that more money may be spent by coming to a financial arrangement with a private sector company, such as a power purchase agreement.
Trust in Spending
Although, he says that if Treasury does not have the money in the pot for funding, one of the alternatives is to not “even bother” and get the private sector to build it, negotiate a power purchase agreement, and then buy that power.
King says that “tends to increase consumer bills more than building it yourself”.
He says: “But if you haven’t got the money, that’s an option that could be put on the table.”
The proposal of a wind farm is very much in its early stages, with the EIA not yet completed, and then efforts to secure planning approval would commence.
Although the message from the MUA was clear: it doesn’t want a battle, it wants a conversation with the Manx public and what they want.
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