They may have been pilloried in the press as a prime example of ineffective greenwash, but small-scale wind turbines could provide electricity that is cheaper than that drawn from the grid for large numbers of homes and businesses across rural Britain.
That is the conclusion of a major new report released today by the Carbon Trust, the Met Office and engineering consultancy Entec, which argues that while many wind turbines installed in urban areas will struggle to offset the carbon emissions associated with their manufacturer those sited in more open, rural locations could deliver significant carbon savings.
The report calculates that if just 10 per cent of those households that could install turbines with the average grid electricity price of 12p per kWh then the UK could generate 1.5 Terawatt Hours (TWh) of green electricity a year saving 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
"The aim was to clarify the potential there is with small-scale wind," explained John Callaghan, senior technology acceleration manager at the Carbon Trust. "We certainly think that it has a role to play, particularly in more rural environments."
The report features a guide to help businesses assess whether their location could be suitable for wind turbines. "In many ways the location you pick is more important than the turbine design," explained Callaghan. "You are looking for an open location with good wind speeds and the higher you can get the turbine the better."
The report also sets out a number of new policy proposals designed to help encourage uptake of small-scale wind turbines. In particular, it calls for new criteria for the government's renewable energy grants to ensure that only turbines installed in appropriate locations are supported and advocates a relaxing of planning rules that would allow turbines more than 11m tall to be installed without planning permission.
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