Madam,

Grannell Community Energy has apparently gained a loan of £535,000 from Welsh Government at a rate of seven per cent, together with a grant of £100,000 towards erecting a 74m wind turbine at Ffrwd, Llanwnnen. A further £700,000 is to be raised with investment from shareholders who could be from anywhere.

Even though trying to attract investment at the first of the ‘launch events’, there was no financial model available and no breakdown or convincing outline of operating/maintenance costs.

It appeared to be the case that the viability of the project depended on whether or not Ceredigion County Council granted an exemption to rates.

No member of GCE knew that the performance of the other turbines of the model proposed at the location was, on average, a mere 22.38 per cent in the last year. Equally, there was no reference to the income from those turbines being only £119,726 on average.

For clarity, no-one from GCE stated that the 17 conditions placed on the application by the planning inspector have to be discharged by Ceredigion council before any development whatsoever can commence and that this could be a lengthy process.

There was no real information regarding the cost or practicalities of decommissioning and no comment was made of the bat curtailment order which will impact upon performance.

Whilst the chair of GCE did say that the turbine was being shipped from the Netherlands, there was no mention that it is a second-hand/recycled machine and nine years old, meaning higher costs and lower efficiency.

Developers Seren Energy originally said that £2m would go to the communities of Llanwnnen and Cribyn. Now, GCE state on their website that they are “committed to putting £5,000 every year for the next 20 years into a community fund, a fund that includes Lampeter as a beneficiary". There is absolutely no guarantee that the community will receive any benefit and there is no guarantee that shareholders will actually get a return.

Anyone considering investing should look carefully at the detail and understand the possible risks involved.

Yours etc,

E Davies, Llanwnnen.

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