Wind turbine could be replaced with bigger one

A prominent wind turbine could be replaced with an even larger structure under plans submitted to a local council.

The 40m (131ft) tall turbine at Rogers Hill Farm in Dorset has been on a hilltop site close to the A35 since 2012, and provides 500KW of power.

Documents submitted to Dorset Council show the owner, Distributed Generation Ltd, wants to replace it with a turbine with an 80m (263ft) tall tower, that could generate 2MW of power.

Residents can comment on the plans on the Dorset Council website.

A percentage of the income from the existing turbine, which was refurbished and imported from Sweden, has been donated to the parish council for community projects with regular payments for community use.

The donations to the parish council are paid every three months, and over the years have amounted to around £80,000.

The new turbine would also have a larger rotor diameter, meaning the overall height of the new turbine would be 125m (410ft).

Also proposed is a battery storage system to be set alongside the base of the tower in a single within a 9m (30ft) shipping container.

Documents with the planning application accept that the bigger turbine would be visible over a larger area, but argue this will not be materially different than the existing structure in its impact on the landscape.

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