Wind farm plan for old mine site
A former opencast mining site in Derbyshire could be used as a wind farm in the future.
The Smotherfly site at Somercotes is owned by UK Coal, and the company is considering using the land to locate three wind turbines.
They could be built under a joint venture with developer Peel Energy, a company with specialist knowledge of the wind farm industry.
It is one of several collieries in the East Midlands being considered as possible sites for wind farms, with pits at Rufford, Thoresby and Harworth, all in Nottinghamshire, also possibilities.
A spokesman for UK Coal said it was not yet decided whether or not the plans would get the go-ahead.
He said: “It will take several months to evaluate each of these sites, and we then have to take a decision as to whether we proceed.
“If we do, there would be a planning process, which itself might take a year. Actually building and commissioning the turbines can be done relatively rapidly.
He added: “UK Coal has something like 40,000 acres of land across the country, so in principle there will be a lot of sites where you could put wind farms.”
17 November 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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