FIVE potential sites for Fife Council’s wind power project have been identified and one of them is on the outskirts of Crossgates, near the park and ride facility.

It is one of the ways the council is trying to reduce its energy costs, carbon emissions and generate income to protect frontline service.

Councillors will now have to agreeif these sites can be progressed before planning permission is applied for.

Detailed studies have being carried out on 25 areas of land which have a council building next to them, shortlisted from an original list of 50.

Investigations have found the majority of these sites are no longer viable due to technical or planning restraints. It wasn’t possible to know if these sites would be feasible or not until this detailed work was carried out. Five sites that have been found to be suitable are: Pitreavie Playing Fields, Dunfermline; Halbeath Park and Ride; Inverkeithing High School; Dalgety Bay Leisure Centre and Cotlands Park, Kennoway.

Feasibility studies into the potential development of a number of turbines that would feed all of their power into the grid are also being carried out. Seasonal ecological work needed to determine impact on bird and wildlife means that complete information may not be available for some of these sites until next spring.

An update on the project was reported to Cowdenbeath Area Committee on Wednesday and members of the Executive Committee will be asked today 9th September if planning applications can be lodged for the five sites listed. Councillors on that committee will also be asked for permission to start the procurement process for turbines at two of the council’s landfill sites – Lower Melville Wood and Lochhead. These have already gone through detailed study and received planning permission. They will also be told about other sites still undergoing detailed feasibility work.

Chris Ewing, Senior Manager, Sustainability, explained this is the next stage in the proposals, “The wind power project is just part of the council’s energy strategy which has been drawn up to help reduce carbon emissions and cut the council’s energy bills. The council spent £13 million on energy bills in the last year and projects like this one have the potential to generate income for the organisation at a time of financial challenge.

“But careful consideration has to be given to them at every stage of the process”.

He added, “These five sites were prioritised because they are feasible and the most commercially viable and we’d like if possible to get them to the planning application stage so we can take advantage of higher levels of support from the subsidy scheme set up by the Government.

“No final decision has been taken yet and councillors will get the chance to make a decision on the next stage of proposals at the next Executive Committee. If councillors approve, planning applications will be lodged for the five sites and each would then have to go through the detailed planning process as well as additional community consultation.”