Southern wind turbine landing plans ruled out

The proposed wind farm has been named Cair Vie, which means fair wind in Manx

Large turbine parts for a proposed wind farm will not be brought ashore via a southern beach, bosses behind the project have confirmed.

Manx Utilities (MU) is investigating an area at Earystane and Scard to build up to five turbines designed produce 20 megawatts of electricity by 2026.

Following underwater surveys at Castletown Bay and evaluations of transport routes, the utilities firm said that a path from Douglas Harbour was now the preferred route.

A spokeswoman said should work on the Ballasalla bypass be completed by 2025, the journey was "projected to have the lowest environmental impact and cost" of the options available.

The scheme, which is now expected to cost £36m, is part of the government's commitment to decarbonise the island's electricity supply by 2030.

Public engagement

A calculation of the space needed for vehicle manoeuvres of both routes, known as a swept path analysis, was carried out by transportation engineers Wynns Limited before the decision was taken.

If approved by planners following the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment next year, the turbine's components would arrive at Douglas Harbour and be moved to the site on roads via Castletown and Port Erin.

An MU spokeswoman said the government-owned firm intended to engage with members of local authorities along the route, with public engagement sessions planned for the summer.

Speaking in the House of Keys on Tuesday, the firm's chairman John Wannenburgh MHK confirmed the turbines at the proposed farm would "only be turned off for protection in extreme weather conditions".

He told politicians there could be up to 500 hours across a year where output was "limited due to low windspeed" and about 80 hours due to high wind speeds.

There would not be any times where "noise would be high enough in any wind direction to require wind turbine output to be limited", he added.