Thumbs down for Eden wind turbine

Demonstrators blocked three of the entrances to Eden

Villagers living near the Eden Project in Cornwall have voted to fight plans for a giant wind turbine.

Out of more than 150 people who attended a meeting at Tregurthy village hall on Monday night there was only one vote in favour of the scheme.

The Eden Project said it wants to use the turbine to help it become energy self-sufficient.

Earlier on Monday anti-wind turbine demonstrators blocked three of the entrances to the Eden site.

For a small rural community to have something this large stuck right in the middle of it is just too much Councillor Matthew Luke, wind turbine opponent

Matthew Luke, a local councillor who was at the meeting, said: "The actual size of the wind turbine itself is the main concern for most people.

"Over 400ft (121m) is just huge.

"For a small, rural community like this to have something that large just stuck right in the middle of it, whether it's green energy or not, is just far too much."

The 127m (416ft) machine would be put on the northern side of the Eden site, near St Austell in Cornwall, if Restormel Borough Council approves it.

Environmental charity Eden said the turbine would have to be large to be economical and to power the site.

Eden chief executive Tim Smit said the 2 megawatt turbine would cost about �3m.

Alternative energy

He said there were only two options on the site where the turbine could be built, so it was at least 450m (1,476ft) away from the nearest house and would comply with regulations.

One of the sites was in a pit, which would mean the turbine would not be in a good position for catching wind, leaving Eden with the one suitable site which already had a small turbine.

He said Eden had considered hydro-electric power, further solar and geo-thermal systems.

But none was capable of providing Eden's needs at a price it could afford and "the only realistic alternative" was wind.

Mr Smit said: "Leaving aside Eden and our 400ft turbine, history tells us that being dependent on energy from outside your boundaries is a really bad thing.

"If climate change gets worse, we are not going to have the time to put in the technological solutions and many of the people who are arguing against this are in a kind of cocoon."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version