Location Mapnpower renewables submitted a planning application for a medium scale eight turbine wind farm near Kirkharle, approximately 12 miles due west of Morpeth in Northumberland.

The application is being considered by Northumberland County Council and is for two distinct clusters of four turbines, with approximately one kilometre between the two clusters. Each turbine would stand 125 metres high (to the tip of the blade) and have the capacity to produce up to 3 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity.

The predicted annual generation at the site has been calculated using a capacity factor derived from performance data for wind farms already operating in England. Should site wind and turbine characteristics result in a similar capacity factor to these operational sites we can expect Kirkhale Wind Farm to generate an amount of electricity equivalent to supplying the approximate domestic needs of an estimated range of 5,800 to 11,600 average UK households each year.

Richard Best, Developer at npower renewables said: "We are confident that we have developed a wind farm suitable for the local area and the Kirkharle site lies within a region classified as being a broad area of least constraint which offers the greatest potential for new renewables developments' within the North East Assembly's Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS).

"If consented, Kirkharle Wind Farm would make a vital contribution to challenging UK targets for renewable energy. The planning application is now with Northumberland County Council who will, in partnership with the relevant consultees, consider the proposal and make a decision about the wind farm."

The site at Kirkharle benefits from:

• good wind speed
• good access to the electricity grid
• good road access for construction purposes
• not having any landscape designations

The planning application for Kirkharle Wind Farm is accompanied by an Environmental Statement (ES) document, which details the various environmental studies undertaken for the project, covering all aspects of the proposal, from noise levels to wildlife. A non-technical summary of the Environmental Statement, which is a shorter document containing the key findings of the various environmental reports, is available to download. Please click the link on the right.

Notes

Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal has been calculated using an assumed capacity factor of 26% (DTI Energy Trends UK regional capacity factors 1998-2004), and is based on an installed capacity of between 12 and 24 MW. The energy capture predicted and hence derived homes equivalent or emissions savings figures may change as site specific information is 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).