Below are several professionally produced images showing the expected view from several locations. Click on an image to see a larger version.

Aston (2km from nearest turbine)

Benington (1.7km from nearest turbine)

Watton At Stone (2.1km from nearest turbine)

Knebworth (4.7km from nearest turbine)

Chris S

[1] http://www.tomorrowsengland.net/pages/south_east.html

Portugese communities, the programme reports, actively compete to get wind farms built because of the incentives that are on offer. Why, in this country, must we always wait for others to show the way ?

BBC Two Working Lunch : Portugese Power Series

Chris S

The most recent statement from the Deeping St Nicholas developer, Wind Prospect, reveals the investigation work undertaken by South Holland District Council and the operator Fenland Windfarms Ltd, detailing the results obtained so far. It is important to note that the effort by Fenland Windfarms is ongoing. Click the link below to download the Wind Prospect statement and draw your own conclusions.

wp_statement_18_01_08.pdf

Note: The above file is in Adobe Acrobat format. To download the Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.

Chris S

The lesson here is that any energy source that is not renewable will by definition eventually run out. As Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, notes ‘Renewable Energy is the only energy source that we can use once and then use again and again’. And guess what ? Wind power is currently the only renewable energy source ready to roll out on a large scale.

An economy not based on renewable power is one ultimately doomed to fail. Gas and even Uranium are other peak supply stories waiting to unfold [3]. Given the terrifying social and economic costs of not making a large scale switch to renewables, projects such as Benington Wind Farm should command our wholehearted support. The transition to renewables will take time and we need to start now, here in Benington. In the long term, can we in all honesty say that we have so many other attractive options?

Chris S

[1] http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/energy-fuels/mg19726391.800-coal-bleak-outlook-for-the-black-stuff.html

[2] http://www.energywatchgroup.org/fileadmin/global/pdf/EWG-Coalreport_10_07_2007.pdf

[3] http://www.energywatchgroup.org/fileadmin/global/pdf/EWG_Press_Uranium_29-11-2006.pdf

Video 1 (4.5MB) : Sieze the Opportunity

Video 2 (3.5MB): No Fuel

Chris S

In the report ‘Wind Power in the UK’, the Sustainable Development Commission assesses the impact of wind power to our electricity bills, assuming that the Government meets the 2020 target of 20% for renewables. Their finding is that the additional cost to the consumer would be about 5% of the current domestic charge, adding that ‘As fossil fuel prices increase and wind turbines become cheaper to build, wind power may even become one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation over the next 15 years’. This looks like a remarkably good deal when we consider the large increases in household bills seen between 2004 and 2007. During this period, our over reliance on imported energy meant that a typical annual electricity bill rocketed by 30%.

The Stop Benington Wind Farm group also maintain that the Benington site is unsuitable despite favourable performance data from the nearby Burton Wold wind farm. Between April ’06 and March ’07 electricity was produced equivalent to the demand of 8,300 homes. That’s 39,010,000kWh for the technically minded and a saving of 34,000 tonnes of CO2. These numbers are much more interesting than any projections or forecasts because they’re real data from an operating wind farm. When the blades at Burton Wold turn it’s secure carbon free energy that’s produced and it just doesn’t get any better than that.

For more information on wind energy economics, visit http://www.yes2wind.com/25_faq.html

Chris S

As ex-residents of Aston with a son and grandson living in Benington, we are following this story with interest. We now own a pub in the village of North Pickenham just outside Swaffham. As well as the much publicised eco-centre turbines in Swaffham, we have an 8 turbine farm on the edge of our village which has been running for just over a year.These are 120m high turbines that turn to a max of 14 m/sec and feather in higher winds. As the village pub landlord, we have had visits from several groups concerned about turbines going up in their area and particularly concerned about the noise, health issues etc.

These points may help your debate:

Noise is often cited - we hear none at all. Certainly there is no evidence of health problems, stress, lack of sleep, etc due to the turbines. Wildlife also seems unaffected. We have no increased traffic from sightseers on our country lanes nor, to my knowledge, has a single accident occurred due to distraction. There are many farms running already in East Anglia and I have heard of no such problems from any of them.

The worry of the effect on house prices tends to fuel a major part of the opposition but has been non-existent here. Hertfordshire is a more expensive area to live but I believe that house price will remian unaffected because people either love them or hate them on visual grounds. Sell to someone who likes them!!

Benefits - our village primary school is to be given a mini turbine which will provide most of their power, thus reducing a major bill with the spin off of a teaching resource.

Grants are available to the community from the energy company and are open to any organisation within 3km of the windfarm on a matched funding basis, i.e. community project costing £10000, we raise £5000, they give us £5000. £15k is available each year for 5 years. Such a deal is wll worth negotiating if it IS going to happen.

My points will not suit all points of view and you may well dismiss them as one person’s opinion. However, I would far rather see a wind turbine than an electricity pylon at the bottom of my garden.

Mick Lee
Landlord
Blue Lion
North Pickenham
Norfolk
PE37 8LF

www.thebluelionpub.co.uk