Burnley is close to making a valuable contribution in the fight against climate change as work gets underway today to construct a wind farm on the outskirts of the town.
The three turbine project at Hameldon Hill will produce enough green electricity to meet the average annual electricity needs of some 2,4001 homes. The scheme involves collaboration between two landowners and npower renewables2 so that time and money for researching and developing the project is split between both parties.
Project Manager Rod Blunden said, "We have started the preliminary site work and construction will be completed within the year. It's been quite a while since the north west has had any new wind farm build and the Hameldon Hill cluster is a wonderful opportunity for the area to further continue to help meet targets for renewable energy and to progress the fight against the threat of climate change."
He continued, "Hameldon Hill is a relatively small scale wind farm, but we need a mix of small and large scale onshore and offshore wind projects as well as other renewable energies to help the UK to cut harmful emissions and bridge the country's energy gap. This will help ensure a clean and sustainable energy future."
Construction of the three state of the art turbines and associated civil and electrical infrastructure will be carried out by REpower UK with co-operation from McNicholas Construction Services, The wind farm will have a combined capacity of up to 4.5 megawatts. Henning Barsewisch, Managing Director of REpower said, "We are delighted to be working with npower Renewables once again and look forward to delivering Hameldon Hill Wind Farm in what is clearly a site that has been carefully and considerately developed".
He continued, "Construction activity for the project has been thoroughly and carefully planned to minimise local disturbance. Access tracks and turbine foundations will be installed over the next few months, with construction of the turbines taking place towards the end of the year."
For further information contact:
- Michael Pullan
npower renewables
Tel: 0118 959 2515
Editors Notes
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This figure was calculated using the following:
An average home utilises 4700 kWh per year (Ref: The Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2005 gives 2004 domestic electricity consumption as 117.589 terawatt-hours (TWh) which, when taken with the 25.2 million households (based on Welsh homes = 1.213 million, England = 21.109 million,
Scotland = 2.217 million, Northern Ireland = 652,000) gives an average electricity usage of 4,666 kWh per year per household).
The energy predicted to be generated by the proposal has been calculated using an assumed capacity factor of 27.3%, and is based on an installed capacity of 4.5 MW. The energy capture, capacity factor and equivalent homes figure relating to this project may change as site specific information is gathered.
- npower renewables is a specialist subsidiary of one of the UK's leading integrated energy companies, RWE npower, and is a leading renewable energy developer and operator. The company is dedicated to generating electricity using sustainable environmentally-friendly resources, and is currently developing the natural power of wind, hydro and, through its parent company, co-firing biomass as significant sources of power for the UK's present and future electricity needs.
In November 2003, npower renewables' sister company, electricity retailer, npower, and Greenpeace, announced the establishment of the npower juice fund, in association with the company's green electricity product npower juice. This fund is helping to support the development of "new" renewable energy technologies such as wave and tidal.
- Planning permission was granted for the wind farm on March 1st 2004, by Burnley Borough Council.
- As the wind farm has an installed capacity of less than 5 megawatts it did not require a full environmental impact assessment, unlike larger schemes.
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