The Annual General Meeting was attended by 26 members. Apologies were noted from Pat Veitch. Andrew Castell opened the meeting by thanking everyone for turning out. He then outlined the Agenda for the meeting.

Anne MacDonald delivered the Board’s Report on the project so far. She reminded that the original brief of the Steering Group was to assess if a community owned turbine would be viable. On the basis of the current figures, a community owned turbine as part of the 5 turbine development would be possible and of benefit to the community.

A Company had been set up with Charitable Status to handle distribution to the community of the Revenue generated, and a second company Soibrheas Trading Ltd had been set up for the business side of things. An Option to Lease the site had been signed and a Collaboration Agreement signed with Corrimony Energy Ltd, setting out the contractual aspects.

Following the recent very positive community vote in favour of the project going forward, Anne outlined what the next tasks would be. Most important would be a need to work very closely with Corrimony Energy Ltd in order to determine and finalise costs for the project and the time-scales of each phase so that grants and finance could be put in place in time for each stage.

Andrew then covered the accounts which had been drawn up for the period to the end of May 2010 outlining the finance that had been secured so far and expenditure to date. He advised that the securing of further grant funding would be a continuing process.

In accordance with the Articles of Association, it was required that all the directors must stand down. All the directors had indicated their willingness to stand for re-election if the membership wished it, and anyone else interested in standing as a director were asked to make themselves known. Each of the directors was then proposed and seconded for re-election and the votes cast were nearly unanimous for each. No additional members put themselves forward for consideration.

The Treasurer, Pauline Trelfer also offered herself for re-election, was proposed, seconded and unanimously re-elected.

Anne advised that at present we had managed with just the 4 directors for Soirbheas Ltd and just herself and Erik Trelfer as directors of Soirbheas Trading Ltd. However, we would need more directors to share the work going forward and members were asked to give this consideration and to encourage other members perhaps. In particular we are seeking people with accounting/financial

expertise and legal expertise. We also need to ensure we have a good cross section of the community serving. The membership were asked to provide their thoughts and suggestions as to what the

Revenue generated might be used for, what developments they would like to see and what it should all look like as we go forward.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The opportunity was provided for members to ask the Board questions and some of these are recorded below:

Q What is the Timescale for the project

A Obtaining Planning Consent may take 6 or so months. Difficult to be definite on other aspects of the project as the situation can constantly change. Last year for example turbine manufacturers were quoting 18 month delivery – this is now much shorter. Construction works can be held up by bad weather, we have to avoid certain times of the year due to the black grouse breeding times – but it is expected the construction phase will be done over a period of 2 years. It is likely to be 2-3 years yet before it is all up and running.

Q What about the Grid Connection?

A We had a grid offer but Mike Girvan had to let it go as it came with a lot of uncertainty about the over-all connection costs and a requirement that the Grid would be indemnified for the costs they encountered in upgrading the grid. This could be a very substantial sum – but they could not give a figure. It would cost £25,000 or so just for them to investigate what the costs might be! We are hoping that the increasing political pressure will bring about a resolution of grid connection problems as there are a number of projects now being held up nationally. Ultimately the Beauly-Denny line when it is built may solve the problem at least for us. However, it is a major issue for the project and we will not want to get too enmeshed with the project until we know a grid connection is available and the costs involved.

Q How windy is the site?

A Monitoring wind speeds and duration has been done over 18 months or more now and the site looks very promising – Orkney is acknowledged as one of the best locations and our readings have been comparable to some on Orkney

Q What about bird collisions?

A An extensive bird, small mammal and ecological survey has been done by independent experts in that field. The man doing the bird survey has a very high reputation and also acceptance by RSPB. His report indicated relatively few bird flights over the area which is barren moorland mainly and so not a food source for them. Whilst the occasional bird collision may occur, it is a very small probability and well below the levels considered to be acceptable risks.

Anne then outlined the sort of skills that are needed to help bring the project to fruition. Financial skills, legal skills and communication skills are all important. We need more folk to put themselves forward now and offer their help. We have to work out a Business Plan and need everyone’s input to this. What sort of community projects do members want to see the Revenue applied to? We have been given some suggestions – extending the Care Centre has come out quite strongly for example. We need a consensus of what the community wants us to use the funds for – and this forms an important part of our grant application process. Anne thanked her Board colleagues for their help and perseverance in getting the project to this stage and the meeting was closed.

Attendees: Anne MacDonald, Mary Brook, Neil MacInnes , Edward Redmond, Peter MacDonald & Erik Trelfer. Laura Nicolson (Community Energy Scotland), Mike Girvan (Corrimony Energy Ltd), Mr & Mrs E Laughton (Adrishaig Community Council as observers). Apologies: Andrew Castell

The Public Meeting was attended by 30 people. The meeting opened with Mike Girvan providing information on the project including the Environmental, Bird and Mammal Surveys that had been carried out. He provided maps of the site via Lap-top computer projection showing locations of the turbines and pictures taken from various points around the area as requested by the Council, with the wind-turbines superimposed on them to show what would be seen of them at those points. In all, because this is not a sky-line development, the visual impact on the landscape will be surprisingly small. Questions were then invited and answers provided.

Anne MacDonald advised that the original brief of the Steering Group was to assess if a community owned turbine would be viable. On the basis of the present figures, the 5 turbine project appears to be viable in terms of the costs and likely Revenue to be generated. On this basis a single community owned turbine as part of that development would also be viable.

The Steering Group had established that the finance for the community turbine is available through a mix of grant and bank loan funding. It would not be the intention to ask all members of the community to directly contribute money. In view of the very large sum involved, small fund raising events would not make much of a difference either, though if anyone wanted to organise these it would be encouraged. Similarly if anyone wanted to make donations we would be happy to accept them. There could also be opportunities for local businesses to be sponsors of the project. The bulk of the finance would come from grants (20-30%) and the balance by bank loan. The Co-op Bank has been very supportive of the project and indicated provisionally they would back it (always subject to their assessment of viability based on the figures available when formal application is made to them).

A Company has been set up with Charitable Status to handle distribution to the community of the Revenue generated, and a trading company has been set up for the business side of things. An Option to Lease the site has been signed and a Collaboration Agreement with Corrimony Energy Ltd setting out the contractual aspects.

The next step is to obtain a strong mandate from the Community that they want us to proceed with this project. The stronger the response the more leverage we will have when it comes to obtaining grant funding (as funders will not be generous to a project that the community is not solidly behind). A postal ballot is taking place and Ballot papers have been sent out to all addresses on the Edited Electoral Roll. Unfortunately anyone who ticked the box on their Electoral Return Form indicating they did not want their address made available for mailing lists will not receive a voting form. They should contact us though so that a voting slip can be made available to them. The deadline for voting is 12^th June.

Assuming the vote is a strong positive response, we will then need the community to take up Membership with Soirbheas (individuals and community groups can be members). At present we have only a small Board of Directors comprising just 4 people so we will also be seeking nominations from the Membership for more Directors to be appointed. The first Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday 25^th June.

There appeared to be no dissenters and the general mood seemed to be that a community owned turbine would be of great benefit to the community.

The Soirbheas AGM will take place at Balnain Hall on Friday 25th June at 7.30pm.