The tallest wind-turbine in England, built by a community network full of agency, in one of Bristol's most deprived areas
A great cosmolocal success story last week, as a Bristol community in a deprived area secured private funding to build the tallest wind-turbine in England. What is interesting about the story is that the more ambitious they were for its performance, the more viable their project became to potential funders - which do not currently include the UK government.
The group of residents from Lawrence Weston, a deprived housing estate on the edge of the West Country city, have secured £4m, and expect to begin groundworks for the turbine, which measures 150 metres from its base to the tip of its blade, in June. The wind turbine, which has a maximum capacity of 4.2MW, will sell energy to the grid. The group estimates it will bring in at least £100,000 a year.
Mark Pepper, who grew up on the estate and helped found the Ambition Lawrence Weston charity to regenerate the area, said the turbine would make hundreds of thousands of pounds for community projects, including a new renewable energy skills training centre and a crisis fund to help local families trapped in fuel poverty.
“The fantastically exciting work begins soon. I feel proud of the residents as there have been a lot of challenges along the way and a lot of barriers put in our way,” he said. “Yet the residents have stayed resolute because they know this could be a gamechanger for Lawrence Weston.”
However, he added that the turbine, which will generate enough power for 3,000 homes, had taken eight years to build because the government had made it so difficult to get planning permission and provided no financial support for communities to generate their own power. “The government’s resistance to more onshore wind has been a problem,” he said. “It’s been a long slog but hopefully soon the residents will be able to reap the rewards of all their hard work.”
Government research shows community-owned energy delivers 12 to 13 times more social and community benefits than equivalent commercial installations. The profits from the Lawrence Weston scheme will be partly used to help families on the estate unable to heat their homes and keep the lights on as energy prices shoot up. “A lot of residents here are on prepaid meters – if they can’t afford to put money on, they are effectively cut off,” said Pepper. “We see a lot of people running out of gas and electricity.”
More here. The article goes on to make the point about the scale of the wind turbine being crucial - but that it points out a government shortfall, that should be remedied:
A shorter turbine would have been uneconomical. David Tudgey, the project’s development manager, who took the turbine through planning and funding rounds, said: “We had to go for the tallest turbine possible for the site because there are no subsidies available – anything smaller wouldn’t have made enough money to benefit the local community.”
Tudgey added that ministers should create a national community energy fund to allow others to copy Lawrence Weston: “Communities up and down the country need help to deliver similar schemes that address fuel poverty and climate change.”
We would entirely agree with the last point. But there’s something to be robustly celebrated about the ambition of these Bristol locals, to make some global-level renewables infrastructure in their neighbourhood. Let them flourish - so that some future “partner state” could listen, learn and sensitively support.
And meanwhile enjoy this interview with Mark Pepper from Ambition Lawrence Weston, the local group that’s pushed this forward—among many other schemes.