Bristol City Council has unveiled the UK’s first council-owned wind farm at a former oil tanker site in the Avonmouth Port area.
Set to begin generating eco-friendly energy from November, the wind farm is expected to cut the city’s annual carbon footprint by around 5,000 tonnes per year while generating up to £200,000 for the town hall.
It is predicted that the site’s two wind turbines will generate over 14,000 Megawatt hours of power each year, equivalent to the average annual electricity use of over 2,500 households.
Bristol mayor George Ferguson and assistant mayor Gus Hoyt visit the Avonmouth wind farm.Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson, said: ‘This is a bold, innovative public project which I’m proud to see in Bristol.
‘It’s with a pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit that we have made this unique investment, which will both provide an additional source of revenue and reduce our carbon footprint. It’s this kind of trail-blazing by my predecessors which has secured our spot as the European Green Capital for 2015, by which time of course we’ll be reaping the full benefits of running the country’s first council-owned wind farm.’
Power will be sold by Bristol directly to the local grid while further cash will be raised from funding sources such as ‘feed in’ energy tariffs.
Bristol’s wind farm will be operated by Nordex UK limited on a 15 year operation and maintenance agreement.
