Cumbria is getting greener after planning permission was granted for High Pow Wind Cluster, near Bolton Low Houses.
The scheme could provide enough clean electricity for the average annual consumption needs of up to 2400 homes, that's enough to power a town the size of Wigton.
The project was initially refused permission by Allerdale Borough Council in October of 2004, but an appeal earlier this year by the applicant, local farmer Mike Jefferson, supported by npower renewables, has proved successful and construction could begin in the new year.
Clare Wilson, npower renewables' development manager for the North of England, said; "This is fantastic news! The High Pow project will secure a local family's farming business for the next 20 years, and shows Cumbria's importance in helping to achieve government targets of generating 10% of electricity from renewable sources by 2010. I am truly delighted by the decision."
She added: "Mike has worked incredibly hard with our support to develop a project which is a genuine farm business diversification venture and which offers environmental benefits both locally; by funding countryside improvement projects, and more widely by providing non-polluting power to homes and businesses."
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Notes:
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The High Pow Wind Cluster will consist of three 1.3 megawatt (MW) turbines, with a maximum tip height of 95m
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npower renewables is a leading UK renewable energy generator, committed to developing and operating wind farms, biomass and hydro plants that produce sustainable and environmentally-friendly electricity. npower renewables has over 14 years' experience in the development and management of world class wind farms, and is careful to ensure that each project takes into account both the needs of the local community and the environment while helping to meet the UK's energy requirements in a clean and sustainable way. npower renewables operates 15 wind farms in the UK including two in Cumbria and is a subsidiary of RWE npower, the UK energy business of the RWE group, and is also a sister company to npower - one of the UK's leading gas and electricity retailers.
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The Government has a target of producing 10% of the UK's electricity requirements from renewable sources
by 2010 and 15% by 2015 to help combat global warming and climate change - wind energy will make an important contribution towards meeting these targets. One of the main causes of global warming is the release of large volumes of the gas carbon dioxide, resulting from, amongst other things, the generation of electricity by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil. Every unit of electricity generated by a wind farm replaces a unit that would otherwise have been produced by a fossil fuel power station, therefore saving the pollution which that would have caused.
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