Communities will benefit from Wind Farms: Official

A formalised protocol has been published, defining the financial benefits a community will receive from a nearby wind farm. Energy trade association RenewableUK is behind the protocol (for England only), which specifies a minimum yearly payment of £1000 per install MW. Not only will the money be for the benefit of the community, but the community will also decide how it is spent.

It is important to stress that this is about payments from the wind turbine operators, and there is no money from the Government. It also specifies minimum payments, and community-driven schemes such as the Unity Wind project in North Walsham will expect to benefit the community by many orders of magnitude more than &1000 per year per megawatt.

Read more at the BWEA website: 'Windfall from wind farms' - Protocol agreed by industry and at Embrace My Planet: Insert obligatory 'windfall' pun here.