MUA use ‘statutory powers’ for wind farm cable survey

The Manx Utilities Authority (MUA) has used statutory powers to rush though survey work at ‘Great Cringle Park’.

The area is adjacent to the proposed site for a controversial wind farm at Earystane in the south of the island.

The Authority is under pressure from Tynwald to deliver the £40 million wind farm by 2026.

A notice has been served on the Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture (DEFA) whereby the MUA relies on powers given to it by the Electricity Act 1996.

Under Paragraph 10, Schedule 2 of the 1996 Electricity Act, the Manx Utilities Authority has the right ‘at any reasonable time, enter upon and survey any land for the purpose of ascertaining whether land would be suitable for the use for any purpose connected with the transmission of electricity’.

A letter sent to DEFA by the MUA says that the Authority’s “preference would always be to work with Departments to formalise a licence agreement in advance of the survey work being undertaken, however the potential cable route has only recently been identified by our consultants and we are conscious that the time it will take to prepare a licence agreement may result in our consultants missing crucial seasonal survey opportunities for particular species of wildlife.”

Connection to grid

The Authority is looking for the best route to link the output of the proposed wind farm, to the existing electricity distribution grid at Ballamodha.

Critics of the scheme are questioning how the project can be properly costed if the Authority doesn’t even know what route the underground cables will take from the proposed site to the grid connection.

They also say the surveys are being rushed.

The work will be carried out over a period of up to three weeks and will include, but not be limited to, bat surveys and amphibian surveys undertaken approximately 7.5hours per day at dusk, dawn and during twilight hours. The area will be restricted to the forestry path and the Eastern and northern boundaries of Great Cringle Park including its northern water body, as well as the footpath on the land adjacent to the northern verge of the Round Table Road

Manx Utilities Authority

The MUA also intend to carry out additional work to survey the full route of the proposed cable, which they say will be on existing public tracks.

The Authority says that its contractors will promise to ensure the area is returned to the ‘same state it is found in’ on completion of the works.

It is not clear if statutory powers will be used to facilitate future survey work.