The Dancing Ladies of Gigha - Creideas, Dòchas, and Carthannas. Tapping into an abundant local resource, these three wind turbines supply island residents with 100% renewable electricity.

These dancing ladies go by the names of Creideas, Dòchas, and Carthannas in Gaelic, perhaps more familiar to you and me as Faith, Hope and Charity. Despite conjuring up images of three dancing female figures, Faith, Hope and Charity are in fact the three windmills that grace the coast of Gigha, a small island off the West coast of Scotland.

The story of the Isle of Gigha is fascinating (the community actually bought the island for £4 million in March 2002!), but there is one aspect which is particularly interesting to us; the dancing ladies wind farm is a perfect example of HomeGrown energy. As you know, here at Good Energy we support more than 1,300 independent wind, hydro, wave, solar power and sustainable biomass generators around the country, making the most of the natural powers of our beautiful country. The three windmills of Gigha generate electricity and income for the island, and some of this electricity is sold to Good Energy through the ProGen scheme, which pays commercial scale generators for the power and the renewable certificates they produce. As Scotland’s first community owned and grid connected wind farm, we wanted to shine the spotlight on this great example of HomeGrown energy.

The windmills have been turning since December 2004, and are actually second-hand (another bonus point for recycling!!), having been previously used at a wind farm in Cumbria. As a particularly windy part of the country, the Isle of Gigha is a great place to have wind turbines, and has allowed the island to move towards more financial sustainability. The project really highlighted the community spirit of Gigha, with everyone mucking in, even with the cleaning of the turbines before they were erected. Willie McSporran, the chairman of the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust, says: “Until recently the Isle of Gigha was in decline with a dwindling population and economy. When Gigha’s community bought the island, we realised we needed to develop in a sustainable way and that is what our three “Dancing Ladies” are helping us to do. Our three wind turbines generate electricity and an income for the community and they help to protect one of the island’s greatest assets – the environment. Gigha’s community is small but we are making a difference. If every community acts on climate change then we can solve it.”

Creideas, Dòchas, and Carthannas, and everyone involved in the project, you are helping to change the way energy is made and used in the UK, well done!