June 12, 2008
England
England
Opponents have pledged to fight against a new wind farm plan for Shorwell.
Cornwall Light and Power, that took over the Cheverton Down Project three years ago, said it had been encouraged to build a state-of-the-art wind farm by the IW Council’s Eco-Island strategy.
The company says preparatory groundwork has been done, but the three 100ft turbines have never been built.
Now the company is to submit an application for three modern turbines to use blades produced by Vestas.
The energy company said the new farm would produce ten times as much power as the original 15-year-old plan, which could only be implemented by importing secondhand turbines from the mainland.
“For this reason we intend to submit a revised application for three modern turbines, which would support Vestas manufacturing and research and development on the Island,” said company development manager Katherine Doerr.
“This would be in keeping with the principles of the Eco-Island strategy and help to make the Island a world leader in renewable energy technology.
“We recently visited the Big Green Picnic and saw overwhelming public support for our proposals.”
But ThWART (The Wight Against Rural Turbines), which successfully opposed Wellow Wind Farm, vowed to renew its campaign against the Cheverton plan.
The IW Council threw out the Wellow proposal because of its adverse impact on the landscape and ThWART says it should do the same at Cheverton, which is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Leading campaigner Lt Col Robin Laird said: “The previous permission slipped through without an environmental impact assessment. This is right in the heart of the AONB and should definitely have one.
“Our objections to this application are the same as the last one.”
By Richard Wright
12 June 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/06/12/new-wind-farm-battle-ahead/