Turbine Update
Over the last 4 weeks we have made significant steps to bring the turbine back into operation.
We have concluded that the equipment in the existing Nacelle is so damaged that we are better to replace the whole Nacelle, than do a piecemeal replacement of the current equipment. The repair company will overhaul a suitable Nacelle in their factory , then install it on our tower. They will then guarantee the major components for 20 years.
At the end of February we discovered that our insurers would not pay us in advance to repair the turbine. We had to fund the repair ourselves and then they will refund all, or part of the cost, depending if the various broken parts were damaged by the shaft disassembly or not.
Local Energy Scotland, through their CARES fund offered to lend us £315k to cover the repairs. The loan is for 1 year (the first 6 months interest free). They also gave us a Grant of £35k for any irrecoverable costs. Coigach Community CIC volunteer Directors handled the significant amount of paperwork to put this in place. The plan is that when we get refunded for the repairs by the Insurance company, that will enable the repayment of the loan. We are hopeful that we can repay the loan before interest becomes payable.
This then created a problem with our bond, as it does not allow us to take on any other debt whilst the bond is in place. Despite it being obvious that this temporary loan was in the bondholders best interest, we had to approach each of the bondholders to get permission to accept the Loan. More and more paperwork (nearly 200 forms!). We achieved the required 75% of the 250+ bondholders on the closing day of the reply period.
In the background the Insurers were undecided on how best to calculate our Business Interruption Claim. We needed at least a part payment on account to fund the bond annual interest and capital payment due on the 31st March 2026. More calls and paperwork.
Having got the CARES Loan in place we paid a deposit on the repair works. Then a second invoice as the repair team identified and started dismantling the Nacelle that will be overhauled and refurbished for us. It is now in a factory in Holland being overhauled.
We finally got our Business Interruption payment on the 25th and 26th March allowing the bondholders to be paid. Not so much paperwork, just tenacity to keep chasing until paid.
The repair company were on site last week, and we await a detailed timeline to getting the refurbished Nacelle installed. We are hoping for the first half of May for installation, but this has yet to be finalised, with power generation before the end of May 2026.
