January 7, 2014
England

Wind turbine plans ‘failing’ in Rushcliffe park

BBC News | 7 January 2014 | www.bbc.co.uk

Two wind turbines installed in a Nottinghamshire park are unlikely to make a financial saving, the authority that bought them has admitted.

The Rushcliffe Country Park turbines cost £30,000 to install, and in 2012-13 produced 477 kWh of energy.

The council said the low figure was due to a fault and its last full generation figure was 3,478 kWh for 2010-11.

The figures came to light in a Freedom of Information request from the Daily Telegraph about council-owned turbines.

Rushcliffe Borough Council, which installed the turbines in 2004, said the wind speed in the park was “relatively low for a wind turbine site”.

It said: “Due to higher than anticipated maintenance costs and relatively low generation rates, it is unlikely the council will make a financial saving within the anticipated lifespan of the turbine.”

Turbine ‘not working’

The council said it made only £365 from a government feed-in tariff scheme, that pays it for creating green energy, and also by selling energy generated by the turbines back to the grid during 2010-11, when the turbines were running properly.

According to figures from the World Energy Council, the electricity generated during this period would be enough to power one average household.

The Daily Telegraph said only a “handful of local authorities” responded to its FOI request.

They included Derbyshire County Council, which has a turbine at Shipley Country Park. It was installed in 2008 at a cost of £45,000 but has not worked since 2011.

In a statement, the county council said: “We’re really disappointed the wind turbine at Shipley Country Park is not working.

“Unfortunately the company which supplied it no longer exists but we are looking at the possibility of bringing the wind turbine back into use.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/01/07/wind-turbine-plans-failing-in-rushcliffe-park/