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Berwick’s community wind turbine granted planning permission

A WIND turbine will generate power and profits for the residents of Berwick-upon-Tweed after receiving the thumbs-up from county councilors.

The Berwick Community wind turbine will be located at the Steps of Grace, between the A1 and the East Coast mainline to the north of the Ramparts Business Park.

The turbine, which is 50m to hub height and 74m to blade tip, will generate sufficient energy to power around 540 homes and save more than 1,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

This is the first Community Wind Turbine in the North East - owned by the local community for the benefit of the community.

A unique joint venture company has been established by Community Renewable Energy (CoRE) and Berwick Community Trust to develop the turbine, which will plough profits from the electricity generated back into the town.

Over the next twenty years a turbine of either 800kWh or 900kWh will generate an estimated £4m in profit, 50% of which will go to the trust to support its work with the Berwick community, and 50% of which will support further CoRE projects developing community-owned renewable energy schemes.

From planning to operation, the turbine will cost about £1m to install.

Peter Watts, Chair of Berwick Community Trust, said: “This is absolutely wonderful news for the town. I look forward to the turbine generating money and energy for Berwick-upon-Tweed.”

Ross Weddle, Managing Director of CoRE, added: “The grant of planning is a genuine reward for all the hard work across the members of the CoRE team.

“The next phase - generating energy for the community and the long-term funding legacy for Berwick-upon-Tweed, will be just as interesting.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .