Mum plans community turbine

25 January 2007

UK: A Beccles mother of two has put forward an ambitious plan for a community wind turbine to help power the town - and do its bit to curb global warming. Hannah Blowers, 29, wants to set up a turbine which local people could invest in, help to build and even profit from. She is inspired by her two daughters, aged one and three, and says she wants to preserve a decent world for them to live in.

Mrs Blowers, a part-time teacher at Brampton Primary School, already has backing from Beccles Town Council for the initial stages of the project, and county councillor Mark Bee is taking her ideas to Suffolk County Council. But she says it is the views of local people that will be most important.

She said: "It is all about the people of Beccles. If it is not what they want it will not be forced on them. I am hopeful they will support it. It is a way of bringing money into the community."

She said that she had already switched to low-energy lightbulbs, turned the heating down, ordered her vegetables from a local organic box scheme, and walked everywhere she could, while her husband Roy drives a hybrid petrol and electric Toyota Prius.

She added: "I have these two incredible daughters. I don't want them to be cleaning up and dealing with the consequences of climate change. By ourselves we cannot do anything, but we can at least set an example and try to get other people across the world to take it on because the consequences become too great."

The size and the location of the wind turbine have still to be decided, though it is likely to be on the outskirts of Beccles, and a year-long wind survey will need to be carried out before a site can be selected.

Mrs Blower says it is not likely to be as big as nearby Gulliver, the 80 metre high turbine at Ness Point in Lowestoft. A more likely size is 65m - the same height as the smaller of the Swaffham turbines, and the one at West Somerton, near Yarmouth, which supplies power to 4,000 people. Depending on wind levels and its efficiency, it could power up to half the homes in Beccles. Mrs Blowers believes it could make about £70,000 a year, which could be shared among local people.

The project has been inspired by a similar scheme in Wales, where a community wind turbine was built in 2002 with backing and investment from local people. It was switched on in 2003 and named "People Power". The electricity it generates powers 45 households, and would have created 70 tonnes of carbon dioxide if generated from fossil fuels.

Mrs Blowers is keen to hear from people with relevant skills for the project, or who own a site which could be suitable. She said: "I feel I can't leave it to other people to fix the climate chaos we have unknowingly created, but now we know, I feel we have a responsibility to do whatever we can."