RWE npower renewables has been granted planning permission by the Planning Inspectorate to build a five turbine wind farm on land between Clacton-On-Seaand St Osyth in Essex.
 
Earls Hall Wind Farm was the subject of a public inquiry which concluded in August 2009 and was held before a Government Planning Inspector at the council offices in Clacton-on-Sea. 
 
John Ainslie, Head of Consents at RWE npower renewables said, “We are delighted to have received consent for Earls Hall Wind Farm.  We always believed the wind farm was well designed and appropriately sited, so it is very satisfying to receive the endorsement of the Planning Inspector.  Like all RWE npower renewables’ wind farms, the Earls Hall Wind Farm will make a substantial contribution to clean energy supply and the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases. 
 
“We will continue to work with the local community to keep them informed throughout the next stages of development and as the wind farm is constructed. “
 
Once operational, the wind farm will generate enough electricity to meet the annual average needs of between approximately 5,500 and 6,000 homes each year.
 
Wind farms contribute towards supplying the electricity that we all use, but in a way that avoids the emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.  Wind farms are not reliant on the import of fossil fuels such as gas or oil, and so contribute towards security of UK energy supply.

Notes
Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using wind speeds monitored in the local area and correlating to a Met. Office station providing longer term data. This enables a calculation to be made to estimate the average annual energy production for the site based on 5 turbines each of rated capacity of between 2 and 2.3MW. The energy capture predicted and hence derived homes equivalent or emissions savings figures may change as further data are gathered.

Equivalent homes supplied is based on an annual electricity consumption per home of 4700 kWh, which is derived from a total UK domestic electricity consumption of 117.589 terawatt-hours (TWh) (The Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2005) and 25.2 million UK households (Mid-year Household Estimates published in 2004 by the Office for National Statistics).