Northamptonshire Telegraph | www.northantstelegraph.co.uk 15 September 2012
A town’s residents are facing up to having 14 extra wind turbines which could be seen for miles around after plans for a £30m investment into a county windfarm.
A planning application has been submitted to Kettering Council for a northern extension to the Burton Latimer windfarm, with developers wanting to put up nine extra turbines on the site.
This swiftly follows planning permission given to a southern extension to the windfarm for five turbines, bringing the potential expansion of the site to 14 turbines.
The northern area of the site, near Wold Road, had planning permission granted for seven turbines in 2008, but that proposal never got off the ground due to the economic climate.
Now, First Renewable Developments Ltd has submitted a revised scheme, including an extra two turbines.
Matthew Byrom, president of the developers, said: “At Burton we have an opportunity to deliver a project using the latest GE technology, which will allow us to double the amount of electricity compared to the existing scheme.
“Through advances in technology, the new GE turbines will produce double the amount of electricity compared to the consented scheme.
“This will be the first deployment of this leading edge technology in the country.”
Mr Byrom said that the development will cost more than £30m, and as they are looking to use newer turbine models, the developers claim the extension will power 10,000 homes – 4,500 more houses than the original proposal.
The height of the turbines has also been reconfigured, and they will now stand at 132 metres.
Two public exhibitions were held in the town in July, and although there were no objectioins to the plans, residents raised concerns about the amount of turbines and the visual impact it could have.
Burton Latimer town mayor Christopher Groome said: “The issue is not about support of the scheme, but whether we are getting too many turbines.”
Cllr Groome added: “There has been some TV disruption from the windfarm but overall we haven’t had many problems.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/09/15/30m-proposal-to-double-size%e2%80%a8-of-wind-farm/