Udny Community councillors Garth Entwhistle and Brian McDougall made a presentation to Udny and Pitmedden pupils on Friday about the new community wind generator, and how it will benefit them.

The two villages are set to benefit substantially from the project which, it is hoped, will generate tens of thousands of pounds to be spent improving facilities in the area. The presentation comes days after the National Lottery announced that it would be backing the scheme to the tune of £269,000.

The community council plans to erect a wind turbine at Tillymaud Farm which, as well as providing clean energy to the surrounding area, will pay an estimated £50,000 annually to good causes in the area.
Speaking to the Times, Mr Entwhistle was optimistic about the new project's future. "It's a relatively new thing for a community to own a wind turbine," he said. "We saw how commercial wind farms were working, and the huge profits that they can generate, and we decided that we would try something similar.

The difference is that our profits will be going to public rather than private use."
"We set things in motion in 2006, so it has taken a while to pull everything together. However, the council and the planners were very, very helpful, and we have had a lot of positive input from the community regarding the project."

"Members of the community council had a lot of expertise in a wide range of areas, which was very handy," said land economist Mr Entwhistle. "Two of our members have experience in the oil industry, and Mr. McDougall is a retired project manager for BT, so we had a lot of relevant experience. We've already had other community councils approach us to find out more about the scheme, and look into doing to for themselves. I would say that it takes a lot of time, and perseverence though. This is a big project - the turbine will be 80 metres high, and generate 800 kilowats."

Meanwhile, Brian McDougall was upbeat about the project. "We have plans for the future as well," he told us. "We have to set aside money to dismantle the structure in 20 years, but we're hoping that an alternate source of energy will have become available by then, and we'll be able to use the land for another purpose at that point. 20 years is a long way away, though, and between now and then the wind turbine has a 15 year warranty, so we're pretty confident that the money will continue to flow for a long time yet."

"We've had letters of support from both Alex Salmond and Malcolm Bruce congratulating us for seeing the project to fruition. The key to our success was community consultation, however: we had 96% support in a ballot we did of people in the surrounding area. The only people who had any objection to make were the air traffic controllers at Dyce, and they withdrew their complaint. People realise that this is a great way to fund the future of Udny and Pitmedden, and that generations to come - including the children here today - are the ones who will benefit the most."

"We're setting up a trust to take the profits, which we're hoping to get charitable status for. That should mean that we won't pay much tax, which in turn means we can spend more of it locally."
The pupils at the presentation came forward excitedly with suggestions on how the money should be spent. The seven young ladies the Times spoke to suggested a new leisure centre, a cafe, a swimming pool, and even laptops for pupils at Udny and Pitmedden to use in school.

"The windfarm is a really good idea," said Ellé Riddell, a pupil at Pitmedden. "We know it'll make a lot of money."
School auxilliary Anne Grant was looking forward to the money being used to fund a new community centre, which would host a café that the whole community could get the use of, as well as facilities for young people. "It's a great boost, and we're looking forward to seeing what will be done with the money. Hopefully this project will be able to benefit the area's pensioners as well."