Rosehall Wind Farm hosts visit from funding award panel members
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Workers at Rosehall Wind Farm welcomed some special guests last month.
Site manager Kyle Liptrot and engineers Bernard Doherty and Euan Mackay showed members of the RWE Rosehall and SSE Achany Advisory Panel round the wind farm.
The panel makes recommendations on awards from both the Rosehall Wind Farm Community Fund, the Achany Community Fund and the Kyle of Sutherland Apprenticeship scheme. It is made up of 12 volunteers including community council representatives from the Lairg, Ardgay and Creich areas.
The group was taken on a tour of the wind farm's control building and also to the control room at turbine 10, from where they were able to see the turbines at both the Rosehall and Achany sites.
Mr Doherty and Mr Mackay talked about their roles and answered questions.
The two engineers explained how monitoring activity is essential on a wind farm, allowing the team to check electricity production levels and to be alert to any faults and areas needing attention.
Panel member learned that the turbines operate in a range of wind speeds between 3-25 metres per second.
At lower wind speeds, the electricity is generated via a small generator which maximises production, with a larger one kicking in at higher speeds.
Panel members were interested to learn that the turbines were all turning at differing speeds and generating different amounts, despite looking almost synchronised.
They were shown how algorithms are used to balance and predict the power load.
RWE's community investment manager Kate Woodington said: "We really appreciate the time, energy and vital local knowledge that volunteers like the panel members bring when it comes to making decisions about distributing our wind farm community funds.
"This was a great opportunity to share more about how the technology that make these community benefit funds possible actually works.”
The panel, which is supported by grant making charity Foundation Scotland, hopes that more groups will come forward for funding in 2024 with the next deadline for grant applications April 30.
For more information and and guidance on what the fund can support, visit the Foundation Scotland website or email:communitybenefit@foundationscotland.org.uk.
