MUA project to potentially cost £40m

Fri, 28 Jul 2023

The Manx Utilities Authority (MUA) renewable project proposal to build an onshore windfarm on the island could cost around £40m.

This is according to figures that have been released as part of the Operational Decision Making document dated July 4.

The potential cost of the wind farm is subject to change when factoring in how many wind turbines will be needed.

The document says: “The lowest cost option is the installation of 5 x 4.2MW turbines at Earystane and Scards.  

“On this basis the project would also deliver a lower cost to customers in terms of a future generation tariff in p/kWh.  Broadly this is because the cost of infrastructure is lower and the larger wind turbine sizes are utilised.”

It would be necessary to build a landing stage at Castletown beach, which would “need to remain in place for the full life-span of the windfarm and would likely have a high environmental impact if required” at an estimated cost of £10m, if Manx Utilities choose the southern site.

The report says that this would increase the cost of the Earystane site to that of the Sulby site, which is given the “rough cost” of £40m.

The MUA report states: “Some members of the ODM Team were willing to make the decisions on cost alone. However, it was noted that there were unknown costs in mitigating additional unknown ecological risks and the majority of team members did not support this action at this stage. 

“It was discussed that the lower visual impact of Sulby & Druidale was less likely to attract objections and the additional cost may be worth offsetting this risk. 

“It was reiterated that the team were asked to make a decision on the overall best technical and environmental option, rather than the option with the lowest cost.”

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