Awel Aman Tawe is a communiyt project. It has been set up by local people
in the upper Amman and Swansea Valley area.
Money has been raised to consult local people about whether it is a good idea
to build a small communiyt wind farm here.
The project will go ahead only if there is majority support for the idea.
Benefits from the project could be:
Cheap electricity to local industrial estate
Profits (between £200,000 and £300,000 per year) to support community projects
Environmental Education centre attracting tourists and school groups
Local employment
Clean energy
Do you support the idea?
The idea is that we, as a communiyt, apply for funding to develop a small
wind farm (4-5 turbines) on or near the Mynydd Ucahf (on the mountain next
to East Pit Opencast site). The site has already been identified by an
external developer as a potentially viable site.
Do you feel that our local resources should be owned and controlled by local
people? And that profits from our local resources should go into our
communities?
By selling the electrity that we generate we can bring in at least £200,000
per year which could be spent on supporting local communiy projects and
businesses in the area.
What is a Wind Farm?
A wind turbine is like a traditional windmill in that it harnesses energy
from the wind. But rather than using the energy directly to mill grain,
it turns the energy into electricity that we can use in our homes. A wind
farm is a cluster ofturbines. As a community project we could build 4 or
5 turbines.
What is a community wind farm?
Most wind farms in Britian are owned and managed by large developers. In these
cases a contribution is normally paid to the local community.
A community wind farm would be owned and managed by local people. You would be
able to buy a share (which would cost about £1). This would give you voting
rights to elect a committee. decisions about the wind farm (including how
many turbines) would be made locally. All the profits generated through local
local wind will be spent on projects which have a broad community benefit
(eg. old age, training for local people, after school club, youth activities,
etc.) Jobs generated will be for local people.
There are no examples in Britain of a community owned wind farm. If Awel
Aman Tawe goes ahead it would be a flagship project for the area, and a large
tourist attraction.
{Because of concern about the visual impact of large scale wind power
projects and because of a belief that the benerfits from wind
power should stay in the local community, there is an increaing interest
in farm scale wind projects.
The following is a contribution from Farm Energy Limited:}
The Rhoscrowther Wind Cluster
1. The Project
The Rhoscrowther Windcluster will consist of three wind turbines of the
Wogston Farm, Angle and will have an installed capacity of 2.25MW.
The turbines will be on 50m towers and have a blade length of 25 metres.
Each year 7.5 million units (kilowatt-hours) of electricity will be produced.
2. The Location
Wogaston Farm is situated adjacent to the boundary of the Pembrokeshir Coast
National Park.
The site itself has no landscape designations.
Wogaston Farm is 900 metres away from the Texaco oil refinery and 1800 metres
from the Pembroke Power Station.
The area has a very high average wind speed.
No new electricity poles or overhead wires will be needed.
The council has a separate policy for samll developments of three turbines
or less.
3. The Environment
The project will produce clean electricity for 1400 households.
This is the equivalent to all the homes in the Angle, Hundleton, Castlemartin
and Stackpole communities plus further homes in Pembroke.
It will prevent 6800 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide being released into the
atmosphere each year.
This is the equivalent of three hot air balloons full of carbon dioxide
each day.
Within the first six months of operation the turbines will pay back all the
energy used in their manufacture and installation.
They will then carry on for the next 20 years or more to produce
pollution-free electricity.
4. International Need
Global warming is now happening. this is now acknowledged internationally.
Global warming will affect all of our lives through extreme weather events,
sea level rise and loss of habitats.
The UK has signed binding international agreements to reduce CO2 emissions
by 12% below 1990 levels by 2012.
5. National Strategy
The UK Government has set a target to produce 10% of all electricity from
renewable sources by 2010.
We have 40% of Europe's total wind resource.
Currently we have just 340MW of windpoweer generation.
Germany has a much smaller wind resource than Britain, but has 3300MW.
As a result they are now the world's second largest producer of wind
turbines.
6. The Economics
The cost of electricity from windpower has come down by 70% in 7 years.
Windpower is now one of the cheapest sources of new electricity generation.
Windpower is the fastest growing power generating technology worldwide.
Windpower can help farmers to diversify their incomes and preserve jobs
in the rural economy.
7. Local Economics
The towers fro the turbines will be made in Wales.
Construction of the Rhoscrowther Wind Cluster should bring £500,000 into
local economy.
Over the next 20 years the turbines will contribute a fruther £500,000 to
the local economy.
Further details: Farm Energy Limited, Unit 2, Castle Park Road, Whiddon
Valley, Barnstaple, Devon EX32 8PA.
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This page was last updated on 27 March 2001 __________
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