Tuesday 29 January 2008

The turbines have landed





Welcome to the Westmill Single Wind Turbine… soon to be Wind Farm!!... in Oxfordshire - photos in link below.


Several Reading residents, including myself, are fortunate enough to be members of the Co-operative that’s financing it.

It will be the first wind farm operating in the whole of the South East, and its rare success in the region in getting planning consent shows the importance of:

1) persistence and moral fortitude by the project iniator / landowner over ~15 years, and the co-op board over the last ~4 years,

2) creating a sense of real ownership for those who’ll be most affected by the wind development,

3) hence and otherwise mobilising strong, enthusiastic and active local support,

4) achieving a courageous political decision by the major party’s councillors in the face of some spurious opposing arguments.

When it starts generating, the wind farm will save about 2,700 homes’ worth of emissions from electricity usage (at current consumption levels) for at least 20 years.

The turbines have landed = Working through the night first is up

www.westmill.coop/westmill_gallery.asp?p=1&gal=1

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