THE FACTS AND FIGURES

Where: South Hams
What: 2 wind turbines
Size: 2 x 2.3MW
Proposal Date: 2007
Customer Equivalents: 2,500 homes

The application was turned down in February 2013 and Infinergy decided not to appeal.  There were more letters in favour of TCWF than against.  Our strategy was on-target, the proposal was appropriate and the application was thorough. So, what happened?

Was the scheme too big?  In this case, we felt that size does matter; we went for large wind for good reason: TCWF would have met the electricity demand of 2,500 homes.
Was the undertaking too big for a community energy group? Let’s just say that project development takes much more time & money than predicted.
And what about the strength of those in opposition?  Community engagement in some cases may increase opposition, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue it.  We ticked all the boxes in terms of actions (e.g. an organised trip to see the Delabole turbines up close), but perhaps we didn’t start with the basics… “can we harnass energy from the wind?”  Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) do a great job with awareness-raising.

In September 2013, ResPublica, an independent, non-partisan public policy think-tank established in 2009 by Phillip Blond, published a report called “The Community Renewables Economy: Starting up, scaling up and spinning out.” The report recognises TRESOC activities in the section on Central Barriers to Growth of Community Energy, as follows:

“A recent example in support of the effect of local authority attitudes and levels of awareness concerns the Totnes Renewable Energy Society (TRESOC) wind farm. The Totnes Community Wind Farm, a project that Jonathan Porritt of Forum for the Future described as “one of the most well-designed and well-supported we’ve ever seen,” was denied planning permission early in 2013. The opinion of TRESOC was that ‘Local planning authorities don’t yet have the tools to balance parochial concerns against national strategic objectives for deployment of renewable energy.’ This suggests that greater information and training for decision makers – both planners and councillors – would be beneficial.”