Wind turbine adds fuel to farm’s sustainable energy targets
A Shropshire farming & composting business is making sustainability a top priority on its mixed farming unit and adding wind power to a growing list of renewable energy sources.
Gethin and Co has erected a 50kw single wind turbine at Lower House near Cardeston near Shrewsbury for commissioning in April. The turbine is 36.4m (120ft) tall with three 9.6m (31ft) blades.
Lower House Farm is a mixed farming enterprise comprising arable crops, poultry rearing and a green waste composting facility. With energy prices increasing, Mark and Claire Gethin and next generation Sophie and Matthew are keen to adopt a variety of energy sources to meet their ambition to become more self sufficient in energy.
Although planning permission was granted in 2011 for a 2160 solar panel array mounted on the roofs of the existing poultry units, only about half the solar panels were erected because the feed in tariff rate changed and it became uneconomic to erect the remainder.
“The Gethins realised that other complementary renewable energy systems were needed particularly to provide energy at night time,” explained Peter Fenwick, a planning consultant with Berrys who has been advising the Gethins on renewable energy and planning options.
“The overall power needs of the poultry unit is some 300,000kw per annum. The solar panels provide approximately half of this, depending on the amount of daylight, sunshine and season. The proposed wind turbine will generate between 144,000 to 170,000 kw per year and in particular will generate electricity in winter and at night when the poultry units are net users of non PV energy.
“The size of the wind turbine was chosen deliberately to generate the shortfall in renewable energy for the farm business,” Peter added.
As is often the case, there was local opposition to the planning application and Shropshire Council rejected the wind turbine at first, but after a successful planning appeal presented by Berrys permission was granted.
The council originally rejected the scheme because it felt the siting would have a detrimental effect on the landscape and be intrusive to neighbours.
“We argued that the chosen site has a good wind resource location and since the nearest non involved residential property was some 600 metres away there would be no noise or shadow flicker effect. The turbine is a single slim structure so the slim aerofoil shaped turbine blades will blend into the environment and not move quickly enough to disturb the general tranquillity of the landscape,” he added.
Wind energy will be a vital contributor to the energy demands of the farming operation at Lower House Farm , complementing the solar panels and biomass boiler producing heat in the poultry houses. Methane from the green waste is used in a combined heat and power unit to breakdown the waste in a closed loop system.
“With energy prices set to rise further farmers need to consider all their options and adopt renewable technology where possible to become more energy self sufficient,” Peter added.
Sophie Gethin says the turbine project ran relatively smoothly, once the original objections from neighbours had been overcome. The slim body of the Endurance turbine was installed by Dulas the second week of March with the Nacelle and Blades being added the following week, after the concrete had set. It will hopefully be commissioned the first week of April.
“We are aiming to become carbon neutral on the farm and the turbine is another way for us to generate our own electricity, complementing the solar panels perfectly. When the sun isn’t out we will have wind power,” said Sophie.
“We are also building an in-vessel composting facility to take green waste and food waste and an anaerobic digester to take food waste, slurry and chicken litter,” she added.
No comments:
Post a Comment