WEB POLL: Have your say on wind farms

FARmers across Pendle are trying to harness the power of the wind in a bid to counteract rising costs.

But it might not all be plain sailing, as they face opposition from residents.

As well as covering their own electricity supply, each farm would receive payments from energy suppliers, as well as payments for any surplus produced as part of the feed-in tariff scheme, made available by the Government on April 1st last year.

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The scheme is designed to ensure the average monthly income from the installation will be greater than monthly repayments on bank loans.

Chris Pearson from Diamond Renewables, a Skipton-based company which supplies and installs wind turbines, said: “The cost of electricity is increasing and it is becoming more difficult for farmers to make a living.

“The objections are all NIMBYs, people who agree with the idea of wind turbines, but don’t want them in their back yard. I can completely understand people’s concerns, but they are much smaller than the turbines you instantly think of, like the ones in Burnley and at Harrogate which are 120m high.

“At 18m high, these are not much bigger than feed towers that farms have.”