Noise fears prompt E.ON to ditch wind farm project

Energy giant E.ON has today announced that it is to end its involvement in plans for an eight turbine wind farm near Ferndale, over concerns that the project's original design could present a noise nuisance to homes in the area.

The 10MW project, which was being developed in conjunction with local community group the Arts Factory, received planning consent in 2005. However, subsequent concerns that the project would breach acceptable noise levels prompted revised designs for the site that meant it would no longer meet E.ON's criteria for wind farm developments.

"We certainly didn't take this decision lightly," said Danny Shaw, head of new business for E.ON. "We've looked at a number of solutions to make this project work but, ultimately, we've determined that the largest scheme possible for the site would be under 5MW, which is not big enough to meet our criteria for new onshore wind developments."

He added that while E.ON was exiting the project other developers might yet come forward to work on the site with the Arts factory.

The decision is the latest in a series of moves that have seen large scale developers back away from wind farm investments, most notably through Shell's decision to sell its stake in the London Array offshore project. However, a spokesman for E.ON insisted that the company remained entirely committed to bolstering its wind capacity and that the move was simply a result of the company's decision to focus on larger scale developments.

"The days of E.ON being involved in small wind projects are almost certainly over," he explained. "We're looking to build economies of scale and if you are buying 40 or even 400 turbines at a time it is much more cost effective than buying four."