Planning for wind turbine

[gc100]

It’s seems wind turbines are not popular full stop on here and with LPAs. 
However for me they seem to make reasonable sense given when I actually need a large of kWh it’s in the period Nov - March and this is when it’s most windy and PVs don’t generate much.

 

So I’m considering if it’s worth me spending time in this. However straight off the bat I’m think the LPA ain’t going to like it given I’m in open countryside. Does anyone know where I can find info on Planning law around these?

 

thanks

[SteamyTea]

If you have access to the electrical grid, compare the costs of running a wind turbine against E7/E10.

If you are off grid, compare it to running a generator, or having suitably sized battery storage, as well as thermal storage.

If the numbers still stack up, then ask an installation company to arrange a visit as they may well know the ins and outs of the local planning.

[gc100]

Well back of a fag paper calc: 5kw at £8k purchase plus install (myself) Cost would provide around 7500kwh/year, around a 10 year payback
 

[PeterW]

I would go for a 10kw minimum as the planning will be the same, and then cost will not be much more than 50% extra. 
 

Just need to remember it has to be as far away from a road, house, boundary or power line as it is tall. (Thats the guidance we were given)

[Temp]

Local planning guidance varies a lot. Some council's have detailed policies on wind energy and others have no written policy at all. It would be essential to take any such written local policies into account, not least because appeal officers place great weight on policies that have been through public consultation and signed off as consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

 

In my area, where we already have many wind farms and individual turbines, they employed landscape experts to assess which areas were more or less sensitive to wind energy development and then workout which areas still had capacity to take additional turbines/wind farms without adverse cumulative impact.

 

Heavy reading...

 

Main SPD..

https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/1238/wind-energy-development-in-huntingdonshire-2014.pdf

 

Brief guidance..

https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/2360/wind-turbine-developments-guidance-note.pdf

 

From a planning perspective I would ask your planning department if they have an SPD on renewable or wind energy. 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Temp

[scottishjohn]

I looked at this with the quarry plot I got where it could be on front face of a big hill 

 

bottom line after frank discussion with a man that could supply a one and specialises in off grid systems+services and repairs wind and water turbines etc 

is that in reality the 40k cost of a proper one installed --not mickey mouse type  would take close to 20 years to get back - and the life span of the major components  is not much longer than that 

so it would only make sense if cost of mains supply was very expensive--and my site  which will be about 30k --makes going mains the right way - I can still go PV when prices get better and resale of extra energy is worth while  and you will still need a battery system to store it to get best use out of it or when wind does not blow

 and you can expect a very long argument with planning to get one  now

 

 all i am saying is ask a lot of different people and consider long and hard about it 

and will the company that makes this turbine still be here in 10years

there was a very popular one in scotland that loads of farmers  bought --then there were problems with gearboxs --such that the company went broke --cos the peole making the gearboxs -folded as well

would I allow a trubine on my ground --yes if it was a rental of land( PPA  scheme) --but only if it was a long way off my house

 

[scottishjohn]

10 hours ago, gc100 said:

Well back of a fag paper calc: 5kw at £8k purchase plus install (myself) Cost would provide around 7500kwh/year, around a 10 year payback
 

find a customer of thiers who have had it for 10years and ask for servicing +repair costs over that period--and bear in mind FIT is virtually sod all now

 if you have water then and it can make 5kw --that will be cheaper and very much more reliable-- 3 -4k is ball park figure for 5kw in hydro 

[scottishjohn]

10 hours ago, PeterW said:

(Thats the guidance we were given

not closer than 180m to any wood  or anything that can alter air flow and at least 30m above it 

 is what I was told

[gc100]

Thanks all , we have a good location for a turbine (wide open fields, no neighbours, woods, etc, high spot).

 

Both myself and my wife want to be a green as possible and have low monthly bills (even if we are just putting that money up front) , so outs not all about making finical sense.

 

it may just make more sense to go with an energy that’s green like Bulb.

 

Not many people about here to tan talk to outside of commercial setups 

[scottishjohn]

27 minutes ago, gc100 said:

Thanks all , we have a good location for a turbine (wide open fields, no neighbours, woods, etc, high spot).

 

Both myself and my wife want to be a green as possible and have low monthly bills (even if we are just putting that money up front) , so outs not all about making finical sense.

 

it may just make more sense to go with an energy that’s green like Bulb.

 

Not many people about here to tan talk to outside of commercial setups 

can you get a mains supply ?

you can still be green -think how big a  ground solar array you could make with the money for a turbine 

 in winter not enough solar so you if no mains you need a generator if you wanto live in modern syle 

Edited November 2, 2019 by scottishjohn

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

-think how big a  ground solar array you could make with the money for a turbine 

May still need planning consent.

2 hours ago, gc100 said:

Both myself and my wife want to be a green as possible

Which aspect of 'green'?  Like Eco, it actually means nothing.

My diesel car is more green than an equivalent petrol car to a climate scientist, but to a respiratory doctor, it is far worse.

Edited November 2, 2019 by SteamyTea

[gc100]

8 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

May still need planning consent.

Which aspect of 'green'?  Like Eco, it actually means nothing.

My diesel car is more green than an equivalent petrol car to a climate scientist, but to a respiratory doctor, it is far worse.

 

My definition of eco/green is reducing my carbon footprint per annum and reducing toxic to life chemicals

 

[Ed Davies]

@gc100, which country are you in? The rules vary between UK countries but in, for example, Scotland, a turbine in open countryside could well be permitted development, i.e., not need planning permission as such though there's a bit of bureaucracy to go through to check it meets all the rules.

[gc100]

15 hours ago, Ed Davies said:

@gc100, which country are you in? The rules vary between UK countries but in, for example, Scotland, a turbine in open countryside could well be permitted development, i.e., not need planning permission as such though there's a bit of bureaucracy to go through to check it meets all the rules.

 

England. We've also had all our PM writes removed as part of our condition to approval. I think this is a no-goer just looking more closely at the costs. Its a shame but its the reality it seems. 

[scottishjohn]

28 minutes ago, Sensus said:

 

As an aside, you do realise that renewables have a different class of Permitted Development rights to domestic? Just because they have withdrawn some or all of your domestic PD rights doesn't mean that they've also withdrawn your PD rights for renewables (in fact, it's highly unlikely that they have done so - but you'd have to read the precise wording of the condition on your planning consent to be sure).

 

Domestic PD rights fall under Schedule 2, Part 1 of the GPDO

 

PD rights for renewables fall under Schedule 2, Part 14, and include a right to mount a microgeneration wind turbine on (not within the curtilage of - freestanding turbines need permission) a house or block of flats, subject to other restrictions.

 

 

no meaningful turbine mounted on the building will ever work correctly due to wind shear/turbulence  caused by the building

you come back to the basics --no closer than 180m to anything on the ground and 30m above anything with in 200 m.

so  you  can maybe do it --but would be a waste of time 

 thats one of the reasons  why  over water   is a good choice ,its basically flat 

Edited November 5, 2019 by scottishjohn

[scottishjohn]

1 minute ago, Sensus said:

 

I wouldn't disagree: I was merely pointing out (as I said, as an aside) that the withdrawal of domestic PD rights is irrelevant, because renewables don't fall under the same category.

 

The turbines that are allowed under PD are also so small as to be hardly worth considering regardless of other efficiency concerns, but that's irrelevant, too.

 

To actually answer the OP's original question:

 

 

There is no specific and dedicated Planning law that treats wind turbines any differently from any other form of development per se.

 

But the NPPF is generally supportive of renewable energy, so paragraphs 151-154 of the NPPF are the obvious starting point... with the caveat, as always, that you can't read one section of the NPPF in isolation, and and proposal has to be balanced against other impacts and benefits. With wind turbines, the biggest and most obvious detriment that you have to balance their benefits against is landscape impact, so expect to have to spend money on a robust  LVIA, if nothing else.

 

There is also some really basic stuff on the Planning Portal, starting on this page.

Iwasn,t having a go at you --juts pointing for others that maybe thought it could be a good idea --that it would not be 

[Ferdinand]

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Edited March 8, 2020 by Ferdinand