Council's wind turbine plan

BRECKLAND Council has come up with a plan to spend up to �210,000 on a wind turbine so it can power its offices with green electricity.

The council had already agreed to spend �10,000 last year on a survey of its buildings to see where it could be greener.

Now consultant RD Energy Solutions has suggested the best option is to build a turbine between nine and 15m high at their head office, Elizabeth House, on the edge of Dereham.

It comes two years after council leader William Nunn pledged the authority would be the first in the county to use wind turbines to power its offices and asked UEA energy experts to look into the idea.

The smallest would cost �49,000

to build and �400 a year to run

and the largest would cost

�210,000 to put up and �3,000 annually to run, according to a report to the full council meeting today.

Another option, for solar panels, would be more expensive and would take longer to reap the benefits, according to the consultants.

'Electricity represents over 90pc of the site energy consumption, therefore the greatest opportunity for financial and CO2 savings is to generate renewable electricity using technology to match the site's average requirements,' the report says.

'A turbine would create the optimum economies of scale relevant to the appropriate energy requirement in Elizabeth House,' it adds.

'If the council wishes to lead on the climate change agenda and create the largest reduction in fossil fuel consumption and therefore the largest CO2 emissions that it can, this would seem the appropriate size.'

It could be built within 15 months, according to the report.

The project would involve a real time digital display in the reception showing the carbon emissions savings the turbine was creating.

Grants could also be available for wind turbines, it says.

It is the first phase of environmental strategy agreed by the council last April.