Hyndburn

Much of the fossil fuel used in the UK’s conventional power stations is now imported. The UK became a net importer of coal in 1997 and a net importer of gas in 2006. It is likely to become a net importer of oil by 2010.

Over recent time fossil fuel prices have been rising significantly on global markets as demand increases. Wind energy, is a clean and freely available resource that can be harnessed to produce power at the lowest environmental cost. Utilising the UK’s substantial wind resource would assist in reducing consumption of fossil fuels and help to reduce our dependency on imported resources.

The UK Government has set the target that 10% of energy is to be generated from renewable sources by 2010 and 20% by 2021. Carbon emissions are to be cut by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.

Targets for on-shore wind farms to meet this need have been set in the Regional Spacial Strategy for the North West of England. The indicative Sub-Regional Targets for Lancashire are 157.5MW in 2010 and 195MW in 2015. Of these targets only 95.1MW of capacity has been installed and no additional wind farms are currently under construction or consented in Lancashire.