Work starts on city turbine plan
A Newport chemical company has started with its plans to install two wind turbines.
Solutia UK was granted planning permission by Newport city council in August to have a pair of 2.5 megawatt wind turbines on the south side of the company’s site on Traston Road in Nash.
These are Gwent’s first commercial wind turbines and are being installed by Wind Direct.
The turbines’ six blades were delivered to the site in a convoy of six trucks at around 6am yesterday from Newport Docks.
Some roads were temporarily closed while the convoy travelled along a route under Usk Way, Docks Way, the Southern Distributor Road, past the Transporter Bridge and along Corporation Road.
The first turbine is planned to be lifted into place by a large crane on Tuesday.
The turbines are expected to generate up to one third of the site’s electricity needs and will generate ten gigawatt hours of electricity per year.
Solutia believes the turbines will significantly reduce its carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.
The turbines will have maximum heights of 130m and 120m which is almost twice the height of the Newport city footbridge.
The structures will also be visible from more than three miles away and will be 750m from the nearest home.
Solutia employs 164 people at its site and turns over £90 million, which is about four per cent of the company’s sales.
It manufactures 120,000 tonnes of chemicals at the site each year, around 60 per cent of which is exported to 90 countries across the world.
By Alison Sanders
South Wales Argus
18 October 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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