Wind Energy Planning

30 UK Organisations Campaign to Save Regional Planning

Kelvin MacDonald from the UK’s Royal Town Planning Institute spoke to Radio 4’s Today Programme this week about the void that has been created through the abolition of regional plans.

30 organisations including the World Wildlife Fund, the National Home Builders Federation, and the Council for the Protection of Rural England have come together to voice their concerns about the sudden withdrawal of planning policy ‘above the neighbourhood level’. They are worried that ministers will miss the bigger picture if environmental protection, housing and planning is left to localism – putting the national interest at risk.

MacDonald said that the organisations want to work with the government to deal with the problem and said that local authorities had already stopped planning for new housing.

Energy Secretary Promotes Wind Energy & Says ‘No Money’ for New Nuclear

UK Energy Secretary Chris Hulne has reinforced the message that there will be no government cash for new nuclear power stations in an interview with The Telegraph this week.

The Lib Dems have always been opposed to Nuclear and energy department cuts of over 25% make it easy for Hulne to stand by his position.

Hulne instead highlighted government support for more onshore and offshore wind turbines, saying that wind energy is incredibly competitive in producing green electricity.

Wind Energy Set to Lead the Way in 2010

More wind energy could be installed in 2010 than any other electricity generating technology if European Wind Energy Association forecasts become reality.

European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) CEO Christian Kjaer announced that an additional 10,000 MW of additional capacity is expected to be installed this year. Kjaer said that despite investor confidence falling at the end of 2009, orders for 2010 show a strong European wind energy market for 2010.

Green Jobs Threatened By Government Cuts

Green jobs could be threatened by UK government spending cuts it has emerged this week.
Government departments are for the first time facing 25% budget reductions and this is expected to have significant consequences for the country.
One area of public spending at risk is ‘The Ports fund’. The fund was announced by the Labour government [...]

Wind Turbine Report Confirms No Health Effects

If you are baffled by people referring to terms such as ‘vibro-acoustic disease’, ‘wind turbine syndrome’ or just generally worried about wind turbine noise, a report has been published confirming that many wind turbine claims are ill founded.

The review ‘Wind Turbine Sound & Health Effects‘ carried out last year includes an assessment of so called research carried out by anti-wind farm campaigners (including Nina Pierpont).

Adopt a Wind Turbine

The European Wind Energy Association has launched a new campaign encouraging people to ‘adopt a wind turbine‘.

The ‘Give Europe a Breath of Fresh Air’ campaign aims to show that wind energy is a mainstream power source that EWEA believes could power Europe seven times over.

EWEA say that European countries are the world leaders in wind energy and that wind energy creates green jobs, lowers electricity prices and emits no C02.

Coalition Changes to Planning System Based on Conservative Ideas

The UK Government is set to make changes to the planning system and it has been confirmed that these will be in line with the Conservative Green Paper ‘Open Source Planning‘ released prior to the election.

The Coalition’s new “Programme for Government” believes it is time for a shift of power from Westminster to local authorities giving new powers to local councils, neighbourhoods and individuals.

The Programme confirms the previous Tory goals of reviewing local government finance, abolishing regional spatial strategies and the Infrastructure Planning Commission and promoting ‘Home on the Farm’ schemes that encourage farmers to convert existing buildings in the middle of nowhere into affordable housing for people who have no cars.

Finland Tops Wind Farm League Table

If you want a quick decision on your wind farm application, Finland is the place to be according to a new survey released this month.

US Maintains Top Wind Energy Position

The US is still the wind energy world leader according to a report released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today.

The US Annual Wind Energy Industry Report claims that despite a slower rate of increase in manufacturing the US remains number 1 in industry rankings.

More Wind Turbine Factory Jobs on their Way

Siemens is the latest wind turbine manufacturer to announce plans for a new UK factory. The factory is expected to create 700 new green collar jobs.

Siemens is looking at sites for the plant in the North East and East of England with good harbour access being a fundamental requirement.

GE to Create 2000 Green Jobs in the UK

Wind turbine manufacturer GE announced this week that it plans to spend 110m Euros (US$147m) and create up to 2000 green jobs in the UK. The company is to join other wind turbine manufacturers who have recently decided to invest heavily in the UK offshore wind energy market.

GE plans to build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing base in the UK and will also create application and service engineering centres around the country. GE say the investment will follow the successful outcome of the UK governments grid infrastructure competition which is intended to make the roll out of Round 3 UK offshore wind a reality. The company wants to develop a 4 Megawatt capacity wind turbine.

President and CEO of GE International Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco said;

Anti- Wind Turbine Councillor Flees to Spain

A local councillor who won his seat at Kings Lynn & West Norfolk Council due to his anti- wind turbine stance mysteriously disappeared to Spain after getting planning restrictions on his house removed and selling it.

According to the Wisbech Standard Cllr Markinson had previously been refused permission to lift the agricultural occupancy restriction but after he was elected in October 2007 he tried again with more success.

Factory Wind Turbine Turned Down

Princes Soft Drinks proposal for a wind turbine at its factory in Bradford was rejected last week due to impact on inhabitants of neighbouring properties.

Planning Inspector Elizabeth Ord said that wind turbine noise levels experienced by nearby residents, both at night and during the day would be lower than the limits recommended in nationally recognised guidance (ETSU R 97 “The Rating and Assessment of Noise from Wind Turbines” ). Despite this she believed that the wind turbine could still lead to sleep disturbance.

Second Challenge to Essex Wind Farm Proposals

A second challenge has been made to an Essex wind farm proposal this week leading to questions about the effectiveness of UK planning and legal systems.

The Bradwell wind farm proposal submitted by wind energy company npower renewables has been subject to two public inquiries at which planning consent was granted on both occasions.

Infrastructure Planning Commission Lift Off

The UK’s new Infrastructure Planning Commission opened its doors to major infrastructure planning applications this week.

The first applications are anticipated from the energy and transport sectors including several wind farm proposals (Atlantic Array offshore wind farm – RWE npower, Irish Sea offshore wind farm – Centrica and Nant-y-Moch wind farm, Wales – Airtricity).

Conservative Proposals for ‘Open Source’ Planning

Newly announced Conservative proposals for the UK Planning system would make it harder for wind energy companies to build wind farms without the support of immediate neighbours.

The Tories say that on-shore wind farms are not appropriate in all settings: local community consent is vital, and applications will need to be considered in the light of the possible impact on the local environment. This according to the Conservatives means allowing communities to be beneficiaries of onshore wind development. The Conservative wind farm policy is to allow communities that choose to host wind farms to keep the business rates they generate for six years. They are also “examining how community ownership of wind turbines can be introduced” despite many wind energy companies already operating community share option schemes at working wind farms.

The Conservatives believe that this is ‘fresh thinking’ and say that if they get into power this year they will actively support getting more of our energy from renewable sources, including both on-shore and off-shore wind.

Advertising Standards Agency Rule Against Wind Farm Protestors

The UK Advertising Agency (ASA) has this week ordered anti- wind farm campaigners to stop using misleading material in their leaflets.

The leaflet produced by a campaign group ‘Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power’ was designed to create fear in communities surrounding a proposed wind farm site in Warwickshire, England.

Conservative Planning Green Paper – Power to Which People?

“Power to the People” is the new Conservative catchphrase. The catchphrase forms the basis of a new Conservative green paper on devolution and decentralisation “giving power back to local communities”. The paper outlines proposals for local government spending, planning and housing, local regulatory regimes and local referendums.

You’d be forgiven for thinking, given the latest expenses scandal, that the Tories would be treading carefully when it comes to the accountability of elected representatives. However the new Conservative green paper proposes abolishing the Standards Board who currently monitor the behaviour of local councillors.

Climate Challenges at Canadian Wind Farm Site

Wind energy companies are treading new ground this month by trialling wind turbines at extreme low temperatures in Canada.

The Wind Energy TechnoCentre is the developer and owner of a new 2 turbine trial project known as “Site Nordique Experimental en EolienCORUS” (SNEEC)”.

Wind turbine manufacturer REpower and wind farm company RES Canada have now completed the construction of the 2 Megawatt turbines in the Gaspé region of the country. The trial is a forerunner to a much larger wind farm comprising 477 wind turbines in Québec.

The REpower MM92 turbines have been installed in the town of Gaspé, near Rivière-au-Renard. The SNEEC project uses two special cold climate versions (CCV) of the REpower MM92.

Scottish Power Doubles Installed Wind Energy

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) nearly doubled its electricity output during 2009, producing over 1.7 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity from its 23 operational windfarms. The rise of 43.8% on 2008 figures meant that SPR produced enough green electricity to power the average annual needs of over 375,000 homes.

Last year, the company completed the construction of Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, Whitelee, near Glasgow. The wind farm extends over an area the size of the city of Glasgow itself.

The Scottish Government has also granted planning consent for two extensions to Whitelee, which will increase the maximum output from the windfarm to 593MW. In addition other wind farm companies including Coriolis Energy and Community Wind Power are proposing further Whitelee extensions.