Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Torrance Farm Wind-Farm project approved

by Ethos public relations

The Torrance Farm Community Wind Energy project is set to become the largest community-owned wind farm in the UK, following the granting of planning permission by North Lanarkshire Council.

Development partners Energy4All and FutureSpectrum, working with the local community, will now help set up the new co-operative that will build, own and operate the wind turbines.

Torrance Farm is situated just north of the M8 motorway at Harthill. This location meets the criteria outlined by North Lanarkshire Council's policy and guidelines as being suitable for renewable energy developments with minimum impact on the environment.

The Torrance Farm Community Wind Co-operative will consist of 3 turbines. The turbines will have a maximum height of 125m creating an installed capacity of 10MW of green energy - enough to power 5600 homes a year.

Energy4All’s chief executive, Marna McMillin, commented: “This is a great result for all those who believe in co-operative solutions to climate change. Collectively, individuals and communities can make a much greater contribution to the renewable energy revolution than they can acting alone.

“The support we’ve received from the local community in Harthill, and from Harthill and Eastfield Community Council in particular, has been fantastic. Our next steps will be to form the co-op, and to put together a detailed prospectus that will describe the project to potential members. Once a share issue is underway, individuals will be invited to invest between £250 and £20,000. This is also a great day for co-operation. A co-operatively-owned wind farm is a much stronger use of community skills and capabilities than, say, a commercial one that simply pays some money into a community fund.”

Energy4All has a register open for potential members to register their interest – at www.energy4all.co.uk.

To read other news from Energy4All click here.

Posted at 28^th February 2011