Local wind farm - will local people benefit?

[Viper_Larry]

There are plans to put up 16 x 100m high wind mills about a mile from our house near the A1 at Biggleswade. Whilst I won't be objecting to the plans, I am taking an interest to see how this pans out and seen the planning application.

Question is - do people local to wind farms benefit from a reduction in electricity prices? Our local one is supposed to generate enough electricity for 18,000 homes. Now I know we won't get a huge reduction, but 1 or 2% would be nice for the local people having to put up with them.

[Viper_Larry]

So the only person who benefits is the local farmer who loses 2% of his land in return for years of rental income... nice.

[Viper_Larry]

tonyvid said:

Is that going into the field just to the west, before the south roundabout? I noticed a monitoring mast there a while ago.

If someone sticks a bloody great mast covered in anemometers in a field near you - be suspicious!

Correct - yes, I noticed a mast a few weeks ago and surprised I hadn't seen it before. So that's what it's for!

More details on the plans here:

http://www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk/bigg/Wind-farm-p...

[Viper_Larry]

Of course, it's just occurred to me that it's not the energy companies building these - I guess it's a private company who rent the land off the farmer, build the wind mills and sell the electricity back to the power provider for a profit, hence we'll get no financial benefit

[Viper_Larry]

Jasandjules said:

To the OP, yes, you'll benefit from a beautiful view and a drop in house prices.

House price drop would be a concern, but not sure if we will really be affected. There's a row of terraced houses about 150m away, then a field, then the main East Coast railway line then the field with the wind mills in. Whether we'll see them is hard to judge, but looking at the plans, it's likely we'll see 2 or 3 of the 16 in total.