What is Devon's 'Fair Share' of Wind Power?

Britain is the windiest country in Europe yet we get less than 1% of our power from this clean, natural and abundant source. Denmark generates nearly 20% of its electricity from wind farms! Likewise, Devon has a lot of wind, but it is not being used.

Our region has a target of generating a minimum of 11-15% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, equating to 555-693MW of installed capacity. The target is based upon the expectation that 286-418MW will come from onshore wind power. Devon has a target of 151MW of installed renewable electricity capacity expressed within its structure plan. This figure is based on the assumption that onshore wind is likely to contribute around 103MW. Devon's installed capacity of wind energy is currently only 3MW.

The 18MW wind farm at Den Brook will be a significant step towards achieving our target. However, these targets should be seen as absolute minimums. Climate scientists are warning us that we need to act much more quickly.

No-one is suggesting covering the whole of the Westcountry with wind turbines, we just need to increase the currently tiny proportion of power we generate from the wind, at the same time ensuring that only the best, most sensitively-designed projects go forward.