Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative

Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative

Type	Co-operative
Industry	Energy
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Watchfield, England
Key people	Mark Luntley, Chairman
Products	Wind generated electricity
Website	westmill.coop

Westmill Wind Farm.

Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative Ltd is a community-owned Industrial and Provident Society that owns 100% of the Westmill Wind Farm which is an onshore wind farm near the village of Watchfield in the Vale of White Horse, England. It has five 1.3 MW wind turbines erected in a line along the disused runway of the former RAF Watchfield. The wind farm has a power output of up to 6.5 MW, projected to produce as much electricity in a year as used by more than 2,500 homes. The turbines were erected in 8 days and the first fully month of generation was March 2008. It has an open day usually in June each year.

The wind energy cooperative was established in 2004 and has more than 2,000 members. The wind farm is intended to help to reduce dependence on fossil fuels whose emissions are considered to contribute to climate change. In 2007 Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative received a Schumacher Award.^[1][2] Westmill Wind Farm was originally developed by Adam Twine who was in the later stages assisted by Energy4All, a company founded to enable community owned renewable energy projects by Baywind Energy Co-operative.

Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust (WeSET) ^[3] is a charity formed in 2010 that receives 0.5% of the wind farm's revenue each year. Its objective is to encourage and promote the deployment of sustainable energy, in particular (but not exclusively) within a 25-mile radius from Westmill Wind Farm. Its website has educational material and details of how to visit Westmill Wind Farm.

The community-owned Westmill Solar Park is located on an adjoining site. Westmill Woodland Burial Ground, a natural burial site, is also close to the wind farm.

References

External links

• In breezy Britain, wind farm cooperatives take off
• Video of Westmill wind turbines in action

Electricity generation in South East England
Power stations	Biomass Active Slough Closed Didcot A (co-fired) Kingsnorth (co-fired) Coal Closed Brighton A + B Cowes Didcot A (co-fired) Earley Eastbourne Broomgrove Kingsnorth (co-fired) Littlebrook A, B + C Northfleet Osney Richborough Slough Gas Active Cowes Damhead Creek Didcot B Grain Humbly Grove Hythe Marchwood Medway Sevington Shoreham Storrington Closed Hastings Slough Incinerators/Waste Active Allington Quarry Chineham Isle of Wight Marchwood Newhaven Portsmouth Slough Nuclear Active Dungeness B Closed Dungeness A Refused/Cancelled Dungeness C Oil Closed Kingsnorth (co-fired) Fawley Grain Littlebrook A, B + C, D Marchwood Northfleet Richborough Solar Active Brighton Energy Co-operative Westmill Solar Co-operative Wind Active Green Park Gunfleet Sands Kentish Flats London Array Romney Marsh Thanet Westmill Wind Co-operative Proposed/Future Navitus Bay Rampion
Organisations	Brighton Electric Light Company Centrica Expro International Group Hammond Electric Light Company UK Power Networks Pre-nationalisation electric power companies SEEBOARD Southern Electric

Coordinates: 51°37′15″N 1°39′10″W / 51.6209°N 1.6528°W / 51.6209; -1.6528