Honda, Swindon
Honda Road To A Greener Future.
Honda is turning on to Wind Power. This is our third within the car industry, and hopes to see their UK car plant, based in Swindon, Wiltshire, graced by wind turbines, with New Green Energy flowing directly into their operation.
After extensive assessments of the Swindon site, we think the site is able to house three modern turbines.
The energy they generate would be equivalent to the annual usage of over 5,000 homes and could save 7,500 tonnes of CO2 a year, every year, for the lifetime of the project.
If you want to know more about this project, please contact us at honda@ecotricity.co.uk
Read the latest news for this wind park.
Vital statistics
Site address - South Marston, Swindon
Planning Since - 11 Dec 2009
Turbines - 3
Hub height - 79m
Rotor diameter - 82m
Capacity - 6.9MW
Green electricity per year -
17.8 million units
Equivalent homes - 5,389
CO2 savings - 7,500 tonnes
15 July 2010
On the 24th and 30th June we held public exhibitions in South Marston and Upper Stratton to inform local residents of the proposals and answer any questions and queries that they may have.
The main questions and queries from local residents were around if they would be able to hear the turbines operating and if their houses would be affected by shadow flicker. Both of these effects have been looked at in detail and we were able to explain that local residents should not be able to hear the wind turbines operating and the effect of shadow flicker has been fully modelled and can be resolved by programming the wind turbine to stop operating for any time that shadow flicker could occur.
Honda and Ecotricity have now submitted the planning application to Swindon Borough Council. It is accompanied by a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which contains the findings of all the assessments that we have completed prior to this submission. All of this documentation is available for viewing at Swindon Borough Council.
14 June 2010
Since March we have been carrying out a host of environmental studies, including completing the background noise assessments. This work was carried out to ensure that any proposal would not adversely impact on local residents. The findings of this background noise assessment has determined that with the proposed four turbine layout the site could not operate without impacting on some local residents south of the A419 in Kenwin Close. The issue was at night time when the traffic flow on the A419 decreases dramatically and so the background noise levels are far quieter. As a result the nearest turbine to them may, in certain wind directions, have been heard.
This was not acceptable for Ecotricity and Honda, so as a result we have altered the proposed layout of the turbines. The site design now consists of three turbines, with the turbine in the southerly section of the HUM site being removed. The specification of the remaining turbines are the same as when it was a four turbine design.
22 April 2010
We are progressing nicely with the various elements of Environmental Assessment work that we need to complete to ensure this site is suitable for wind turbines. Part of this work is establishing the existing background noise levels. We’re currently undertaking this work and various residents around the Honda site have allowed our independent acoustic engineers to place noise level monitoring equipment in their gardens.
We have also been continuing our discussions with Swindon Borough Council and the statutory consultees to determine what environmental factors they would like to be assessed and included in any planning application we make, and the methodologies that they should follow.
11 December 2009
Ecotricity is investigating the possibility of installing up to four wind turbine at Honda’s Swindon site. Honda will be working in partnership with Ecotricity to manage this initiative. A scoping request has been submitted to Swindon Borough Council who has advised us on the specific details they want covered in all the environmental assessments.
We are now in the process of gathering all this information which will determine the number, location and size of turbines suitable for this site. The project is at an early stage. If the proposal was to progress any further a comprehensive public consultation programme would be undertaken.
