Landowner Questionnaire

Thank you for contacting West Coast Energy. Before we can advise on the potential for your land, it would help if you could provide us with as much information as possible. Below is a questionnaire. If you could provide whatever information you can, with a plan if possible, we can undertake a preliminary assessment and give you our initial thoughts. Please return to us at the address below or email us at: paul.vernon@westcoastenergy.co.uk

Fill the form below:

Explanatory Notes

Many landowners throughout the UK have decided to work with West Coast Energy to harvest the power of the wind. Good sites for wind development are important, for example, a site with 10% higher annual mean wind speed than another produces more than 20% extra energy. Including local communities in wind farm developments is also important.

Only a small fraction, typically 1% or less, of the land is taken up by the turbines and associated access roads. Inevitably there will be some disturbance during construction and maintenance, however,  in return you get a regular income, either a fixed sum or a percentage of the value of the electricity sold. You also have no responsibility for maintaining the turbines. The base of the towers only take up a small amount of space, and the blades of the turbine need to be a long way from the ground to use to make best use of the increased wind speeds higher up, leaving the space underneath free to use. Turbines also need to be widely spaced so that the wind speed 'picks up' between each one.

The electricity produced by a wind turbine over a year depends critically on the annual mean wind speed at the site. Sites only a hundred metres apart can be significantly different. The ideal site is on a smooth and exposed hill top or rise, clear of any obstructions such as trees or buildings within a few hundred metres, yet not so far from the farm or electricity connection that the cost of underground cable is excessive.

We understand that if a wind farm is built on a 'set-aside' land then only the area of land actually occupied by the turbines - or the area of land that can no longer be cropped - plus any additional access roads, not the whole area of the wind farm, is excluded from the 'set-aside' scheme.

While wind resource is the main consideration for site suitability, it does not follow however, that every windy location is suitable.

These are just a few factors that can help in assessing a site:

• The land available for the project (which might include a number of landowners) should ideally be greater that 100Ha (250 acres) – we would need to space turbines about 400m apart for maximum efficiency.
• Turbines need to be at least away from national or ecological designations, areas such as National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Nature Reserves.
• Good geological and hydrological conditions on site.
• No significant archaeological sites being present on the land or located nearby.
• No protected mammals or bird species being present on site.
• The land being situated in a preferred area for wind development identified by the local authority helps.
• Potential for some support for a wind farm from the local community.

If in doubt, please contact us. We’ll be delighted to give you a quick “heads up” and it won’t cost you a penny.

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