New Possibilities

In September 2008 we met with Andrew King of Energy4All at the suggestion of Jon Bell. Energy4All have helped develop community wind projects in other parts of the country and want to expand into East Anglia. They have offered to help us with projects by running the whole thing, or by providing specific services and expertise. They stressed their flexibility.

In view of this, and particularly in view of potential further delays at North Walsham, we are now actively looking for other sites. We are currently looking for sites near Fakenham and Melton Constable, but would be eager to hear from any farmers in Norfolk.

The NFU have agreed to publicise our work in their newsletters. We are considering large and medium sized turbines. That is those able to generate under 1MW to those producing 2 or more MWs. The standard rent for a turbine is £6,000 per MW annually, increasing to £12,000 per MW annually at the 10th year, so even medium sized turbines can provide a useful supplement to a farmer’s income.

We are happy to visit potential sites to see if they are viable in terms of general wind speeds, grid connections and other features. We would also undertake all the public consultation work ourselves and would apply for grants to cover the pre-planning surveys. The farmer would not be expected to do anything except agree an option and a potential lease and would not be put to any costs. The details of the lease would be confidential. The expected life of a turbine is 25 years, so the lease could cover just this period, or allow for an extension.

It may be more appropriate to share projects involving large turbines with a commercial partner. Ecotricity have offered to do this if they consider a site suitable. This would be a much quicker, simpler route for local people, but the community scheme would necessarily be limited to half the project. However, half of several million is still quite large. Wind turbines are profitable, so even half a scheme would bring considerable returns to the local community.

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