Wind power is environmentally friendly because it doesn't harm the environment and doesn't cause climate change. The 30 turbine wind farm at Scroby Sands, off Great Yarmouth will provide power for 50,000 homes. The wind farm was approved by the government in April 2002 and it is part of their plan to triple the amount of energy generated from renewable sources by 2010. 
A wind turbine |
The wind farm costs £78m to build and is being constructed by Powergen. Each steel pile on which the turbines rest are 50 metres long and weigh 200 tonnes. There are also plans to build wind farms in the Wash, off the coast of Cromer. Tallest wind turbine Norfolk is already home to one of the largest wind turbines in the world, at the Ecotech Centre in Swaffham, owned by Ecotricity. At 100 metres tall from the tip of one of the three blades to the ground, the turbine dominates the skyline of Mid-Norfolk. It is around the same height as Norwich Cathedral, 135 feet taller than Nelson’s Column A second wind turbine at Swaffham was completed on 18 July, 2003. The two turbines will supply 75 per cent of Swaffham's total home electricity requirements, boosting Norfolk's total wind power by 30 per cent. Recommended reading
By Sheila McKeown, a librarian at the Millennium Library in Norwich. Energy: Earth in Danger! by Polly Goodman. Hodder Wayland 2001, ISBN 0750236264. New Energy Sources, by Nigel Hawkes. Watts 2000, ISBN 0749637218. You can get hold of these books through your local library. |
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