The letter sent to landowners by Scottish Power

I write further to my visit to this area last week.

Turner and Partners are appointed agents for Scottish Power Renewables. Scottish Power is the largest wind farm developer in the UK.

They were acquired by Iberdrola in November 2006. Iberdrola is the third largest utility company in Europe, with a presence in 30 countries and the world's number-one wind generator. Iberdrola continue to work under the name of Scottish Power Renewables in the UK.

We have been instructed to contact you as part of the preliminary investigations for a wind farm in this area.

The attached plan shows the area we are interested in. This has been selected as a desk-based exercise by looking at Ordnance Survey plans of the land use, contours, distance from residential property (750m buffer zone required), and the prevailing wind strength speed and direction. We understand that you own some of the land in this area.

In order to progress the preliminary investigations, we need to establish the extent of the land holdings of all the landowners in this area, and report this information back to Scottish Power. We also need to establish whether you may in principle be interested in having some wind turbines on your land, and whether you have previously been approached by any other developers.

Scottish Power will then produce a draft plan showing the likely size and position of the proposed wind farm, based on the land holdings of the interested parties and any other developments planned in the area.

If you are interested, we ask that an exclusivity letter is signed. This will enable Scottish Power to carry on with their investigations beyond this stage. By signing the letter you are agreeing to exclusivity for Scottish Power in the project and that you will not enter into discussions with any other wind farm developers for a period of 24 months. Scottish Power will pay you a one-off payment of £1,000 within 28 days of the signature of the exclusivity letter.

During the 12 months following, they would be looking to agree an option to lease the land. The option to lease would be for a minimum of five years and allows Scottish Power to carry out the various surveys required before the development can take place. These include archaeological surveys, environmental impact assessments, geological surveys, grid connection studies, wind speed and direction surveys and planning consultation. The typical payment on signature of the option agreement is £5,000 per wind farm, with an annual payment of £1,500.

Finally, once all the necessary surveys had been completed and planning consent gained, Scottish Power would complete a 25-year (minimum) lease. The annual rent would be the higher of £10,500 per turbine, or based on a percentage of the income generated. Scottish Power is then committed to running the wind farm for the duration of its life.

As the country's largest wind farm developer, with Scottish Power you can be confident that they can deliver what is offered and that Scottish Power are fully committed to taking this wind farm proposal as far as they can.

With this in mind, I would be grateful if you were able to confirm whether you may be interested and if you could mark the extent of your land ownership on the attached plan and return it to me as soon as possible. It would be helpful to know what you own, even if you were not interested so that your land can be eliminated from further investigation.

I enclose a SAE and a blank plan.

Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss any of the above.

Yours sincerely

Anna Hare MRICS

Senior Surveyor (Turner and Partners)