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The "Proven Planning Pack" is designed to give you information relevant to the planning process for the small wind turbine systems manufactured by Proven Energy Ltd. Please feel free to pass this information on to planning officers and encourage them to contact us direct should they have any further questions.
Proven Energy Ltd. has now installed over 500 wind turbine systems worldwide with roughly over 300 installations in the UK supplying a diverse range of applications from hilltop telecommunications sites and commercial applications to domestic householders and community electricity generation schemes.
Planning officers and committees have typically had little first-hand information or experience on which to base their decisions for small wind turbines (3 metre rotor diameter). The majority of applications that have been dealt with have typically been for larger-scale commercial wind turbines (45 metre rotor diameter) and planning officers and committees are wary of issues such as visual intrusion and noise, which are associated more with this type of turbine rather than our small-scale ones.
This document offers information that should help to give you a clearer idea as to the scale of our technology and its (minimal) effect on the local area. Previous forms of this document have supported applications of turbines to be installed in sensitive areas such as National Parks, nature reserves, AGNB's (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), SSSI's (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and other protected sites. *See attached list for details.
Please feel free to contact any of the people on our Reference Site List attached or to visit our factory in Ayrshire, Southwest Scotland where we have a number of turbines on display - including the new 15kW turbine! If any of the sites listed overleaf or our own factory is located a considerable distance from your site please contact our office where we can point you to a site that may be a bit closer to home for you.
In most areas of Britain local government has two layers: county councils and district or borough councils, with the district/borough council making planning decisions. Most district councils are then divided into parish or town councils.
These bodies don't have any direct influence on planning decisions but may be consulted during the process. In Scotland, Wales and some metropolitan areas of England a single-tier system exists, sometimes called unitary authorities. Northern Ireland has a different system again with the Northern Ireland Assembly administering planning decisions through 6 divisional offices.
Applications are made to a council's planning office and dealt with by a planning officer. The planning officer will consider an application and make a recommendation to a planning committee with whom the final decision rests. A planning committee is made up to 30 local councillors.
Planning Policy Statement 22 (PPS22) replaces Planning Policy Guidance Note 22 (PPG22) issued in 1993, the annexes issued in 1994, and the photocopied annex issued in 2002. Its scope is specific to the consideration of planning issues relating to renewable energy projects rather than broader issues.
The objective of PPS22 is to provide a clear, up-to-date Statement of national Planning Policy for renewable energy in England; to ensure that the planning system plays its part in delivering Government policy on energy as set out in the Energy White Paper.
Further information and guidance can be received through the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Planning Policies Division A).
Scottish Natural Heritage has released specific guidance on the location of wind farms in Scotland. This is contained in their policy statement "Strategic Locational Guidance for onshore wind farms in respect of the natural heritage" to be read in conjunction with the National Planning Policy Guidelines on renewable energy (NPPG6).
Paragraph 7 deals specifically with smaller wind turbines such as those manufactured by Proven and states that the special rules required for wind farms do not apply to small-scale wind turbines:
"The guidance only applies to the consideration of onshore wind farms, and it excludes small wind developments of a domestic or small business scale, typically single turbines of under 50kW capacity, which may be accommodated satisfactorily in most landscapes and in relation to which strategic guidance of this sort is unnecessary."
Paragraph 4 indicates that:
"[SNH] supports the Government's policy to increase the generation of electricity from renewable sources in Scotland."
Proven Energy Ltd's small-scale wind turbines are all sited so that visual impact is kept at a minimum without compromise to power output. Our technology requires a location that offers good exposure such as the highest point on the land. This is ideal, however, may not be practical in terms of either distance or visual impact - we therefore site our turbines to accommodate both.
The ability to paint our turbines (both the head and the tower) also allows us to further increase its camouflage into the background - making it almost invisible to the human eye at a distance in some cases.
Proven Energy Ltd recognises that noise can be a nuisance not only to the householder that purchases a wind turbine but also to their neighbours also. This is why our turbines have been developed as one of the quietest on the market.
Most of the noise associated with larger-scale wind turbines comes from the gearbox located inside the nacelle (head). Our small-scale turbines are produced without a gearbox for this reason! No gearbox - no gearbox noise!
Although our turbines are one of the quietest on the market they are not silent. The only noise that is audible is the gentle 'swooshing' noise of the blades cutting through the air. It is unfortunately not possible to totally remove this noise, however steps can be taken to reduce it substantially. Our blades are aerodynamically designed to produce the right level of lift for maximisation of power production, to allow stalling in higher wind speeds to protect the turbine and to allow the blade to cut through the air like a knife - therefore reducing noise levels.
NOTE: Proven Energy Ltd's turbine blades rotate at a low 'maximum' rpm to even further reduce noise levels: 500rpm - 140rpm (600W - 15kW)
To further demonstrate our turbines almost silent operation, we have produced more extensive noise data and can present them in report form to planning authorities, officers or committees as and when requested.
A common misconception with our equipment is that it interferes with telecommunications equipment and TV signals. This is nonsense and is totally disproved by a number of our installations at high profile sites across the world.
We have:
"I'm not aware of us having any power outages at the site since the site was integrated into the network, this is more than can be said for some of the grid connected sites!"
Jim Porter, Orange Ltd.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) supports the sustainable development of 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 - this was also echoed in a recent report in Nature. It concluded that over the next 50 years climate change is expected to drive a quarter of land animals and plants into extinction and that under the higher estimates of climate change a quarter of the birds could become extinct. The RSPB described the report as 'a deeply depressing paper'. The RSPB further agrees that developed alongside other forms of renewable energy and energy efficiency, wind energy has a key role to play in averting the worst of these impacts.
Across the country as a whole, studies carried out at the UK's existing wind farm installations shows hit rates of less than one per turbine per year; for example, the 9 turbines on the harbour wall at Blytt are in a busy bird area and of bird flights through the wind farm, only 1 in 10,000 resulted in a collision. This translates to 1-2 collisions per year per turbine. To put this in perspective, cars in the UK kill more than 10 million birds - every year.
When scaling this type of statistic down to our small-scale type of equipment the rate drops even more dramatically to an almost non-existent figure! This fact coupled with the careful siting of our systems means that we can further protect our feathered friends and help to ensure their long-term future.
Quite simply, birds are in far more danger from colliding with overhead power lines, or being eaten by domestic cats, or hit by vehicles than they are from wind turbines.
Hopefully this document should help you through the planning process and help to give information to planning officers and councils on small-scale wind turbines to make their decision easier. However, if further information is required please do not hesitate to contact the office where we may be of further assistance.
N.B. Overleaf is a selection of reference sites, photographs and drawings with comments to help visualise our scale of turbines.
Proven Energy Ltd, Wardhead Park, Stewarton, Ayrshire KA3 5LH
T: 01560 48 55 70 F: 01560 48 55 80
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