People Power! A community owned wind turbine

Bro Dyfi Community Renewables first installed wind turbine is a Vestas 75kW machine, bought second hand and installed in 2003 on the hill above the Centre for Alternative Technology, near Machynlleth. The turbine supplies CAT with power, and the surplus is sold to the National Grid. The turbine is owned by 55 shareholders who recieve an annual dividend. A proportion of the shares were paid for by a grant from the Energy Savings Trust. The dividend from these shares go into a community energy fund; funding energy efficiency measures in the Dyfi Valley. Other grant funding came from the Scottish Power Green Energy Trust and the European Commission.

Facts and figures:

Height (to blade tip): 31.5metres.

Annual energy generation: 122,470kWh (2005).

94% of the shareholders and beneficiaries live in the Dyfi Valley.

Electricity generation figures (from the start of generation in April 2003, until December 2006) for the turbine are below.

There is a photo diary of the process of erecting the turbine on the CAT website, here.