June 18, 2012
England

Wind turbine at St Briavels to go ahead

The Citizen, www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk 18 June 2012

Plans for a 74-metre wind turbine in St Briavels are back on track after a delay which saw supplier PowerWind entering preliminary insolvency proceedings.

PowerWind, which has now cut its costs and restructured the business, says it will deliver the turbine at the beginning of August, four weeks ahead of schedule.

The project is part of a revolutionary joint venture between farmer Anthony Cooke, from Wye Valley Bacon and Sausage, and Woolaston firm Resilience Centre Ltd.

One of the first schemes of its kind in the UK , once up and running, the turbine will provide green electricity to between 50 and 180 homes and give a considerable cut of profits back to the community in the form of a trust fund.

However, the partnership was informed earlier this year that there would be a delay in the production of the turbine because German company PowerWind would have to restructure.

Dieter Dehlke, CEO of Powerwind, said: “The restructuring measures are currently being implemented and adopted quickly.

“First successes have been already achieved in significant cost reductions.

“Furthermore, we are grateful that most of our business partners, suppliers as well as clients, have clearly confirmed their intention to continue their relationships with PowerWind and to support our efforts, so all PowerWind business activities are continuing as usual.”

The turbine will be built at Mr Cooke’s Great Dunkilns Farm, just over a mile from St Briavels.

The original application was flooded with letters of support from people in the community.

Andrew Clarke of The Resilience Centre said: “If we can develop just a quarter of our electricity from locally-owned, invested and built renewable energy here in the Forest of Dean we can deliver, year on year to the Forest of Dean economy, the same money as the area receives from the whole of tourism.

“Together we can make a significant difference to the quality of life for people here in the Forest by keeping our money local and once again being independent for our energy needs.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/06/18/wind-turbine-at-st-briavels-to-go-ahead/