Wind Farm Blows Cash for Moray Community Broadband Upgrade

Faster broadband speeds could be on their way to neglected parts of Finderne in Moray (Scotland) after the local Finderne Development Trust (FDT), which is set to receive £138,000 per year from the developers of the Logie Wind Farm (Hill of Glaschyle Renewables LLP), confirmed a tentative proposal.

The wind farm itself was built in partnership between Logie Estate and Muirden Energy and was commissioned in 2017. The farm appears to consist of one 55kW turbine (early test) and this has more recently been joined by twelve 2.3MW turbines.

Finderne covers the small settlements of Rafford, Easter Lawrenceton, Dunphail, Edinkillie, Logie, Cathay, Altyre, Burgie, Blairs, Blervie, Brodieshill, Relugas, Glenerney and Braemoray. Under the new proposal some of the funding from the wind farm could be used to improve broadband connectivity in at least part of this area.

Chris Piper, FDT Inaugural Chairman, said (Press and Journal):

“We are focused on delivering long term projects that address rural challenges. The lack of availability of adequate broadband within Finderne is a key example.”

Local residents have already expressed their support for this proposal via a recent survey and the next step will be to appoint a development manager in order to create a detailed plan. At present there doesn’t appear to be much information on what may or may not be considered, although the funding is likely to be spent on other things too.

It’s worth pointing out that the state aid supported Digital Scotland project has already worked with Openreach (BT) to extend their Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) network into other parts of Moray, such as Clochan, Longmorn, Rothes, Rothiemay, Elgin, Buckie, Forres and Keith.