§ Lord Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many individual wind-driven turbines there are in (a) Wales; (b) Scotland; (c) England; and (d) Northern Ireland; and [HL380]
How many wind farms there are in (a) Wales; (b) Scotland; (c) England; and (d) Northern Ireland. [HL379]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThere are 83* wind energy schemes currently generating electricity for the grid in the UK. These include single turbine installations, small clusters of turbines, and larger wind farms with 10 or more machines.
The number of projects and turbines by country is as follows.
Projects Turbines Wales 18 394 Scotland 18 265 England 37 300 Northern Ireland 10 101 In addition to these projects, there are some commercial scale wind turbines installed to serve specific businesses rather than to generate electricity for the grid.
* British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) figures
§ Lord Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the average cost of wind-driven turbines in United Kingdom wind farms; and [HL381]
What is the estimated amount of investment in wind farms in (a) Wales; (b) Scotland; (c) England; and (d) Northern Ireland. [HL382]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleIt is difficult to make generalisations about the costs of wind turbines, as this technology is advancing rapidly, with different makes and models being bought to suit the particular site. Costs will vary, for example, according to whether the project is onshore or offshore, and according to wind-speeds at the site.
There will thus be differences between projects, but I understand that a rule of thumb in the wind energy industry is that new projects may currently cost an average of some £650,000 per megawatt of capacity installed, including the cost of the turbine, transport to the site, and erection and commissioning.
Making use of this rule of thumb, rough approximations can be made of the replacement cost of currently operational wind farm projects: some £150 million for Wales; some £130 million for Scotland; some £100 million for England and some £45 million for Northern Ireland.
§ Lord Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What employment opportunities have emerged consequent upon the decision to build wind farms in the United Kingdom. [HL383]
24WA
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe 2003 annual report of the Renewables Advisory Board includes an assessment of employment opportunities in the UK that could arise in the period to 2020, if wind energy and other renewables expand in accordance with energy White Paper aspirations. It is there estimated that by 2020 the renewable energy industry could sustain between 17,000 and 35,000 jobs, compared with some 7,700 jobs currently. A high proportion of these jobs would be in the wind energy sector.
§ Lord Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of noise pollution consequent upon the building of wind farms in the United Kingdom. [HL384]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleAn assessment of noise from wind farms was undertaken by the Working Group on Noise from Wind Turbines. The group's findings were published in the report entitled 'ETSU-R-97: The Assessment & Rating of Noise from Wind Farms'*.
* Copies available from the British Library www.bl.uk/catalogues/blpc