Mid-Norfolk landscape contractor Tony Canham reckons he has saved just over �300 in eight weeks after installing two wind turbines at his smallholding.

Mr Canham, 46, who runs his business from his Etling Green home just outside Dereham, had two generators put in a yard behind his house, and the turbines were put up in a day on his three-acre plot.

He said: 'These days, every small business has to look at ways of reducing their expenditure. We use a lot of electricity in the yard to power cutting tools, kindling machinery and sawing equipment and I wanted to look at ways of reducing electricity costs as well as cutting our carbon footprint.'

The 15m-high wind turbines came from Windcrop, based at Honingham Thorpe, and will be maintained by the company for 20 years.

They provide Mr Canham with 100pc renewable electricity free of charge, and he will not need to pay maintenance costs.

'I expected it to be quite complicated but it was completely stress-free,' Mr Canham said. 'We thought that they'd be noisy, but I can honestly say that we've only noticed them in really gusty weather, and now we're used to seeing them we don't pay any attention to them. The good news is that, after only eight weeks, we've saved �300 on our electricity bills and it's not even a windy time of year.'

John Moore, managing director of Windcrop, said: 'Although the main attraction of installing wind turbines is the cost savings in terms of reduced electricity purchased from their usual supplier. Many also agree the environmental benefits as just as important.'