By Paul Grinnell | Published on 15/04/2013 | Peterborough Telegraph | www.peterboroughtoday.co.ukBy Paul Grinnell | Published on 15/04/2013 | Peterborough Telegraph | www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk
Multi-million pound plans have been drawn up to construct eight large wind turbines on farmland near Peterborough.
The £29 million scheme has been earmarked for a 29 hectares site at Gores Farm, Whittlesey Road, Thorney, with each 3MW turbine expected to be 126.5 metres high.
The proposed site is currently owned by three individual farmers but the developers say agreement has been reached to lease out the land if the plans are approved by Peterborough City Council.
The eight turbine wind farm project has been drawn up by Peterborough Wind Energy, which is a subsidiary of the Wales-based West Coast Energy, which has just submitted the plans to the council.
A public exhibition detailing the proposals will be held at Bedford Hall, Station Road, Thorney, tomorrow between 2pm and 7.30pm.
Steve Salt, planning and public affairs director at West Coast Energy, said the proposed wind farm could generate up to 24MW of power – equivalent to the annual domestic electricity consumption of 13,011 homes.
He said the venture included a community benefit package that would see 10 per cent of the wind farm’s profits being donated to the community. This could reach as much as £96,000 a year for the 25 years life span of the wind farm.
But the plans have already run into opposition from some residents in the area.
A spokesman for the Newborough Landscape Protection Group, which is already fighting the council’s own plans to create three renewable energy parks on farmland in the Newborough area, said the scheme would devalue property prices, devastate the countryside and wildlife and be an eyesore.
He added: “West Coast Energy are only here because they know Peterborough City Council are pro-wind and hope to destroy Thorney with their own wind turbines in 2014.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/15/plans-unveiled-to-build-eight-wind-turbines-on-farmland/