Westmills wind farm is officially popular with its local community according to a recent report by the BBC. Westmills is the first 100% community owned wind energy project in the south of England and provides for the needs of around 2500 homes.
The five turbine wind farm is located within half a mile of the village of Westmills in South Oxfordshire, England. The turbines started generating electricity in February of last year after a long planning haul patiently negotiated by landowner Adam Twine. More than 200 local people bought into the wind farm co-operative and now receive a financial return on their investment.
The BBC report interviews Director of Westmills Co-op – Rod Blunden who says that modern wind turbines are not noisy. Blunden said “some of the older turbines were noisy there is no doubt, however the noise has now been engineered out”.
Neighbours within half a mile of the wind farm say that the wind farm is not a problem. They believe it is a local landmark which brings in business.
Click here to watch the interview.
Jim Cummings
August 10th, 2009
What a great model for wind development! getting local “buy-in” taken to the logical conclusion…
I’m curious as to whether the farm is upwind or downwind of folks a half mile away? Or, are there people all around it? In all the debate about noise and setbacks, it’s extremely rare that coverage includes this key piece of information. I look forward to following your coverage.
Vicky Portwain
August 10th, 2009
The wind farm is north – north west of the village of Watchfield (the predominant wind direction is from the south west – north east). There are individual residential dwellings in all around it within about 1 mile.
If you are looking for examples of wind farms close to settlements – another wind farm popular with its local community is Ardrossan Wind Farm in Scotland within 1km of nearby properties.