Lotus, Norfolk
The world's first wind-powered car factory!
This is a great site for wind turbines and together with Lotus we’re going to create something really special. This will be a massively influential project as the world starts to grapple with the energy crisis and climate change – the ultimate double whammy.
These three turbines are important step towards a future where we secure our own energy needs, from our own local sources – without adding to climate change. These will be the first wind turbines in South Norfolk, they cannot be the last.
Once operational, all of the electricity needed by Lotus for their operations will be produced on site without any pollution at all, and in a typical year there will be enough ‘spare’ electricity to power about 1,000 local homes.
Read the latest news for this wind park
Vital statistics
Site address - Lotus Cars, Norfolk
Building Since - 30 Jun 2007
Turbines - 3
Hub height - 78m
Rotor diameter - 82m
Capacity - 6MW
Green electricity per year -
17.3 million units
Equivalent homes - 5,248
CO2 savings - 15,431 tonnes
12 November 2009
Well it took longer than we hoped and three days at the High Court, but the Judge has finally made a ruling on the High Court challenge lodged against the planning approval. He has thrown out the reasons presented by those against the wind turbines at Lotus and determined that the decision made by South Norfolk Council to approve this application was wholly legal. Therefore the approval that we first got in July 2008 is re-instated.
As the Judge’s decision showed that South Norfolk Council made the right decision by approving the application, they are back in Court on Monday to request that the Judge award them costs.
We can now begin all the work that we had had to place on hold to get the turbines at Lotus installed and generating electricity.
18 June 2009
Although this application was approved by the local authority the decision is being challenged by a local group who campaigned against the Lotus turbines. A Judicial Review has been lodged which we are now responding to through the High Court.
We have been waiting for over six months for a date for the first hearing, and we now have one; it’s in early July. At this hearing we hope that the Judge will either throw out the case or require those opposing the decision to refine their reasons for objection.
Once we have either of these bits of information we can either start building the site or get on with defending South Norfolk Council’s decision to approve the application. South Norfolk Council are still supporting this application and are spending considerable time defending their decision to allow this wind park to be built.
23 July 2008
In a surprising U turn last night, South Norfolk District council voted to approve Ecotricity’s application to build three wind turbines at Lotus’s car factory in Hethel.
The Council had turned the same application down earlier in this year and looked sure to turn it down again and force an appeal – but, by just one vote, the application was approved.
The turbines are to be sited inside the test track at Lotus’s factory (an industrial site), which sits in a part of the district that the Council themselves had said was suitable for up to 6 wind turbines. The original refusal didn’t make much sense given that and the outcome at appeal looked pretty certain.
Construction work is expected to start next spring and the turbines should be up and running by later in the year.
