October 6, 2011
England

Eco-friendly school left out of pocket after ‘unproven’ wind turbine breaks

The Telegraph, www.telegraph.co.uk 5 October 2011

An eco-friendly school has been left £55,000 out of pocket after its wind turbine broke – with governors admitting that it was based on “completely unproven technology”.

The company that installed the turbine has gone bust leaving the school with a pile of scrap.

The Gorran School in Cornwall revealed its 15 metre turbine in 2008 which was designed to provide it with free electricity – and sell any surplus power to the National Grid.

The system was seen as a green blueprint for clean, sustainable energy for schools nationwide and received grants from various bodies including the EDF power firm.

But soon after being installed the wind turbine became faulty and after a few months seized up – showering the school’s playing field with debris.

Since then the school has been locked in a battle with suppliers Proven Energy which has now gone into administration leaving the school with little hope of any money being returned – and a pile of scrap in their field.

Sue Hawken, chair of the school governors, said: “It has been an absolute nightmare from start to finish. “We’ve put a claim in but realistically I don’t expect to get a single penny from this company.

“Unbeknown to us, the 15 kilowatt turbine that Proven Energy installed was completely unproven technology that never really worked.

“Proven Energy wrote to us to confirm the design fault. With that in mind we are advising owners to place their wind turbines on brake as soon as it is safe to do so.

“It is an absolute disgrace and I feel the company has acted atrociously.”

The school says it will look at solar panel as an alternative in the future.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/06/eco-friendly-school-left-out-of-pocket-after-unproven-wind-turbine-breaks/