August 25, 2006
U.K.
U.K.
CUMBRIA’S tallest wind turbines, at the Voridian factory near Workington, should be built within six weeks.
The two turbines, each 108 metres from ground to blade tip, will supply about a third of the energy needs of the US-owned factory, which manufactures cigarette filter material and pellets for plastic bottle production, next to the A596 Workington-Maryport road.
The original estimated date for commissioning the turbines was mid-September but operators Wind Prospect Limited said there was no significance in the delay.
Cumbrian Industrials, which is building the foundations and groundworks, which includes hard standing for the cranes to be used in the erection phase, should be off site by the end of this week. The next phases are the delivery of the components and erection.
Commissioning is expected to take place in late September or early October and, after testing, the official hand-over is being scheduled for mid-October.
The turbines will be around twice the height of the turbines on the Siddick and Oldside windfarms.
They have been approved against a background of opposition from the people of Seaton, and from the parish council, which said the turbines will become a blot on the landscape and will de-value residential property.
Parish council chairman Clifford Hodgson, who is also a member of the Voridian local liaison committee, said: “They are going to be an eyesore which the whole of Seaton will now see.”
Allerdale council’s development panel rejected the turbines plan three years ago but that decision was overturned on appeal to the government’s planning inspectorate.
An official switching on ceremony is under discussion. The turbines will be built by the UK arm of the German company Repower.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/08/25/turbines-up-in-six-weeks/