The Gamlingay community wind turbine was officially opened on Friday 14th June, on what turned out to be a breezy and sunny afternoon. The opening was followed by followed by a party to celebrate the occasion at the Gamlingay EcoHub. And well deserved too.
The community project has come a long way since 2010 when it first started and there were many things to celebrate at the opening event including the fact that on 9 May 2013, the Gamlingay Community Turbine was connected to the National Grid and has been offsetting the carbon footprint of the village since the end of May.
At a time when there are many communities across the country fighting the installation of wind turbines on their doorstep, what Gamlingay has done stands out as an example of how wind turbines can benefit local communities.
This wind turbine is a local project, the idea conceived by of a group of local residents, and the build was also funded entirely by local residents. The project was undertaken under the auspices of the Gamlingay Community Turbine (GCT) Ltd, set up specifically for the project. It is truly a local project, by the community, for the community and is said to be the first such community turbine project in South Cambridgeshire District.
As featured on the BBC TV local news, Chris Smith, the Director of GCT said “The biggest danger to the environment from global warming is the assumption that other people are going to sort the problem out. But in Gamlingay, we don’t think that way, we wanted to take the lead. So we’ve raised the money ourselves locally. We haven’t gone for public funding or borrowed from the banks.”
He also went on to say that “We wanted to make a statement that we care about the environment and offset our carbon footprint here in the village.”
The turbine, seen in operation here, is 37m tall and can generate enough electricity to power 150 homes, about 10% of the domestic electricity for the village. Ten percent of the income from the wind turbine will be taken as a “tithe” to support other environmentally friendly projects within the community. The remainder will be used to repay the nearly £1m cost raised from local investors.
You can learn more about the Gamlingay Community Turbine project by visiting their website. A truly inspirational environmentally friendly community project.
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