When is a Wind Farm not a Wind Farm?

According to Ecotricity when it’s a Wind Park. Yes, this company have started trying to build a 4 turbine “Wind Park” 350m away from our house. This is news that hasn’t met with much local support and has brought the usual debate about green energy to the fore again. The literature that Ecotricity sent contained all the usual claims about wind turbines and their green credentials. Of course these credentials are contested by many people.

I’ve yet to come across a submission for a new wind farm that didn’t lead to a campaign against it and I suspect this submission will result in one as well. At the open “drop-in” meeting that was held today to introduce the scheme virtually all the attendees were openly against the scheme. Given the projected timescale is 5-7 years it’s going to be interesting to see how things evolve.

Every wind turbine needs land and in this case it’s being supplied by Hugh Grierson who is drinking from the poisoned chalice. We’ve often looked at his products and considered buying them, but given his support (as evidenced at the open meeting) we won’t be buying in the future. I’m guessing Hugh felt the green image of wind energy was a prefect match for his organic business, but I’m not convinced that they are.

Of course, terming the scheme a “wind park” rather than a “wind farm” makes it far less objectionable.

The following is copied from the Huntspill Wind Farm Action website.

On 2nd September, Ecotricity, who propose 5 huge 400foot industrial wind turbines for the West Huntspill area, organised a trip to visit their single turbine at Shooters Bottom on the Mendips. This turbine is in fact 66feet shorter than those proposed for ‘The Huntspills’.

My first impression on approaching the Shooters Bottom site was the absence of houses within the immediate area. Quite unlike the sites proposed for ‘The Huntspills’ which are surrounded by five villages with many properties in close proximity to the Turbines.
As I got off the mini bus, I was horrified by the amount of noise the turbine was making. There was a high pitched buzzing noise, which we were told was coming from the generator and also a loud whooshing noise which was made as the turbine blades passed the stem. The amount of noise both surprised and alarmed me, as we had been told that turbines generate very little noise. It was far noisier than any of us had imagined. As we moved some distance down the field the noise intensified.
I might add we were up wind of the turbine and it was a relatively still day. We were told the turbine was running at 5.5 meters per second. The noise was like an aircraft continually taking off. In fact, a couple of times during the visit I found myself looking up into the sky for a plane.
Imagine the accumulative effect of the 9 turbines proposed for ‘The Huntspills by EDF Energy and a further 5 by Ecotricity.
I find it totally unacceptable that these power companies are even considering siting industrial sized wind turbines so close to people’s homes.
I came away from the visit with the impression that our lives and quality of life are of little importance to the energy companies behind the proposals. This is all about money. The fact that we will loose our residential amenity, we will no longer be able to get the same amount of enjoyment from our homes, gardens and the beautiful area within which we live appeared to be of little consequence.

Julie Trott
Withy Road
West Huntspill