What has Manx Utilities done to date?

Over the last five years, multiple studies have been undertaken by Isle of Man Government and by Manx Utilities to identify the best solutions to bring renewable electricity to our Island at lowest cost and best value to our customers. The Isle of Man has one of the best wind resources in Europe and onshore wind currently offers the lowest generation costs of all available technologies suitable for the Isle of Man.

Manx Utilities has been working progressively over the last few years, completing feasibility work in the form of detailed technical studies. Investigations on sites suitable for onshore wind actually go as far back as 2005. Since these initial studies, Manx Utilities has taken into account changes in planning rules, consideration for protecting vulnerable areas of our environment, and detailed assessments on the limitations of our network.

The work carried out since 2021 has helped us to identify the most suitable site for an onshore windfarm, the technical and commercial limitations for renewables on the power system, and helped us identify how an onshore windfarm would fit into the overarching strategy for decarbonising our power system alongside other renewable technologies.

In March 2023, specialist consultants Wardell Armstrong were appointed to carry out an environmental and technical appraisal of three sites in Government ownership on the Isle of Man, to assess the feasibility of delivering an onshore windfarm which could generate more than a quarter of the Island’s electricity requirements by 2026 and to make a recommendation on which site should be taken forward to the next stage of assessments.