October 27, 2010
England

Firm defends scheme for higher turbines

By Amanda Greaves, Telegraph and Argus, www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk 27 October 2010

The company behind controversial plans for three 80m high turbines has insisted it is the perfect site for generating wind power.

Kelda Water wants to replace four ‘worn out’ wind turbines at Chelker Reservoir, near Addingham, which are operating at a tiny percentage of their capacity.

The blades have been removed from two of the turbines and the other two are out of action.

But the plans to replace them have drawn criticism from local communities. A protest group called PACT (Parishoners Against Chelker Turbines) has been set up against the project, which has yet to be formally submitted as a planning application.

However, Mark Fox, from Kelda, a sister company to Bradford-based Yorkshire Water, insists the new turbines would operate 85 per cent of the time and generate enough electricity to power two water pumping stations.

“It was and is still an important site to us,” he said. “It’s the ideal place, where there’s very open countryside.”

It has been claimed the majority of people who visited a public exhibition in Addingham about the proposed turbines were in support of them.

“The feedback was quite generally positive,” Mr Fox said.

“People could see it’s an improvement on what’s already on the site.”

But Addingham Parish Councillor Gordon Campbell said the scheme was just a revenue stream.

“The three new ones will generate far more electricity than they need for the pumping stations, and the rest will go into the national grid, and be a revenue stream,” he said.

Kelda Water is expected to hold further consultation exercises.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/10/27/firm-defends-scheme-for-higher-turbines/