Britain’s first wind farm reaches 25 years

Britain’s first commercial wind farm – near the North Cornwall coast – has celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Delabole Wind Farm was first developed by local farmers the Edwards family, as a response to plans for a nuclear power station in the area, and began generating renewable electricity in 1991. 

It was later bought by renewable energy company Good Energy which, between 2009 and 2011, invested £12mn to repower the site, replacing the ten turbines with four larger ones and more than doubling the total generating capacity to 9.2 MW.

Peter Edwards – known as the ‘Grandfather of Britain’s wind industry’ – said: ‘After the wind farm started generating in 1991, one of the main criticisms was that the amount we contributed to the national grid was so insignificant that we shouldn’t have bothered. That’s why it’s so satisfying to see just how far wind energy has come.’ 

As with all of its renewable sites, Good Energy also contributes over £10,000 per year to a community fund, which is controlled by a local committee and used to support community initiatives.

Meanwhile, another of Britain’s pioneering green energy companies, Ecotricity, has celebrated 20 years since it started generating electricity in Gloucestershire. The completion of what is 

called the Lynch Knoll windmill was the culmination of five years’ work for Ecotricity founder Dale Vince, who decided that he wanted to build one on the hill that he was living on, inspired by the country’s very first wind turbines in Cornwall.

Cornwall’s first wind farm was repowered between 2009 and 2011

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