Enviro21 Innovation Parks - Frequently Asked Questions
Back to Enviro21 Innovation Parks Project
Please note many of the questions and answers relate to wind farms as opposed to individual turbines like the one proposed for Queensway South.
- Visual Impact: Will it be visible?
- Location: Where will it be placed?
- Property Values: Will it affect the value of my property?
- Birds: Do wind turbines kill birds?
- Noise: Are wind turbines noisy?
- Reliability: Is wind power reliable?
- Intrusion: Are wind turbines taking over the countryside?
- Cost: How much will this turbine cost the Hastings council taxpayer?
Visual Impact: Will it be visible?
The proposal is for a single turbine located in the Enviro21 Innovation Park at Queensway South.
We have carried out landscape and visual impact assessments to determine significant changes and have produced computer-generated images from representative views from a range of distances and orientations. Ridges, valleys and trees will help screen the turbine although it will be noticeable from certain locations in and around Hastings.
Location: Where will it be placed? Will it be noticeable?
The proposed location for the single wind turbine, taking into consideration wind direction and proximity to houses is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Enviro21 Innovation Parks site map, showing the proposed location for the single wind turbineProperty values: Will it affect the value of my property?
The proposal is for a single turbine located in the Enviro21 Innovation Park at Queensway South.
Research has been carried out in the UK and the USA looking at the effect of wind farms (as opposed to a single wind turbine) on property prices. The results of the reports are mixed. Some research on large wind farms in the UK actually shows a positive trend. For example, in Nympsfield, Gloucestershire, house prices actually increased after plans for a wind development were announced in 1992 and have continued to increase since it began operating in 1997. And at Taff Ely in Wales, a number of residents actually believe their homes have increased in value as a result of the nearby wind farm. In the USA, rigorous research by ECONorthWest concluded there was “no evidence supporting the claim that views of wind farms decrease property values”
.
For more information visit Wind farms and property prices (PDF, 184KB).
Birds: Do wind turbines kill birds?
Monitoring of existing wind turbines suggests there is no adverse effect on bird populations if the turbine is sensitively sited.
According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), evidence suggests that appropriately positioned wind turbines, even in quantity, do not pose a significant hazard for birds. The RSPB supports renewable energy such as wind power because it helps mitigate climate change, which they believe “poses the most significant long-term threat to the environment.”
The Planning Application will be submitted to Hastings Borough Council and will be accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that includes details of the likely impact of the project on the environment and wildlife, among other things.
In considering an application, Hastings Borough Council will consult with a range of stakeholders, including the statutory advisers on nature conservation, as well as others with an interest in the project. This ensures that decisions on whether to grant consent for wind turbines are considered in the light of the best available information about their likely impact.
With rigorous EIAs and thorough monitoring, wind power can be deployed without significant detriment to birds or other wildlife.
Bird and bat surveys are currently being undertaken at Queensway South by a team of professional ecologists in order to help assess the risk of birds and bats being adversely impacted by the operational turbine. Initial bird and bat survey findings suggest that the impact on birds is unlikely to be significant.
Noise: Are wind turbines noisy?
Modern turbines are actually very quiet! Thanks to advances in wind turbine technology, well-designed, well-sited turbines can be quiet enough to cause no disturbance to people living just a few hundred metres away.
At these distances, any noise they do make is usually drowned out by the natural noise of the wind itself in the trees and vegetation. To protect nearby residents from any undue disturbance, the proposal will meet strict noise standards.
Having read exaggerated claims in the press, people visiting wind farms are often surprised at how quiet they actually are. The Scottish Executive public opinion survey is one of several demonstrating that concerns about noise are often unfounded. Before construction of the Scottish wind farms studied, 12% of people living near the sites thought that the turbines would cause a noise nuisance. After construction, only 1% thought they were noisy. For more information: see the BWEA fact sheet ‘Noise from Wind Turbines – The Facts’.
Specialist acoustic engineers have conducted long term noise monitoring at Queensway South to establish existing background noise levels, including measurements at the nearest residential properties. It is anticipated that the wind turbine will not create a noise issue to local residents.
Reliability: Is wind power reliable?
Yes it is. There is actually a lot of confusion about the reliability of different sources of electricity. No power stations are able to operate all the time without stopping. Many so-called reliable sources such as nuclear plants suffer when reactors must be shut down, often at short notice, for essential safety maintenance.
Unreliability of this kind is far harder to deal with than the intermittency of wind power, as the amounts of electricity involved are generally much higher. By comparison, the variation in output from wind farms distributed around the country is scarcely noticeable.
A great advantage of wind power is that the available wind resource is much greater during the colder months of the year, when energy demand is at its highest. And the wind will never stop blowing everywhere in the UK at once! At present the National Grid can be operated effectively and economically with up to 20 per cent of the electricity capacity being provided by variable energy sources such as wind. At the levels being considered over the next few decades for wind energy production, such variability can easily be accommodated by the grid system.
It is true that we could never rely on wind turbines alone to provide for all our electricity needs. But there are storage technologies we can use, such as pumped storage hydro-power schemes (where water is pumped up-hill, thus acting like large batteries for the electricity system).
In future, hydrogen offers a potential way of storing electricity from wind power. Excess wind power can be used to produce hydrogen through electrolysis, and then hydrogen can be turned back into electricity using a fuel cell, as and when it is needed.
The UK is the windiest country in Europe, so we have a massive resource waiting to be used. And in the future, all our electricity could come from a mix of complementary renewable sources—balancing wind power with wave, tidal, solar and biomass. For more information: visit British Wind Energy Association.
Intrusion: Are wind turbines taking over the countryside?
There are now 1,769 wind turbines in 137 locations across the UK. A typical wind farm of about 20 turbines extends over an area of about one to two square kilometres. But only a small fraction of this land, about 1–2 per cent, is actually occupied by the turbines and access tracks. The bulk of the land is unaffected and can continue to be used for agriculture, grazing. In other words, to produce 10 per cent of the UK’s current electricity from the wind would use about 1 per cent of the total UK land area, with the turbines occupying only about 0.0002 per cent of the total UK land area.
Cost: How much will this turbine cost the Hastings council taxpayer?
The cost for supply and installation of the turbine will be met entirely by Sea Space and will be recouped over time through the income generated from the green electricity produced. There will be no cost to tax payers.
