Clean power celebrations a breeze as Northumbrian community sees wind farm up close

Over 100 people living near a new Northumbrian wind farm experienced fossil-fuel free power generation up close on a bright and breezy day last Saturday as the owner kicked-off inauguration celebrations. 

People from the local area including Elsdon, Otterburn, Birtley, Kirkwhelpington and West Woodburn visited the 16 turbine Ray Wind Farm just a month after it was finished. The developer and owner of the 54.4MW project, Swedish energy group Vattenfall, said it wanted to let the local community see wind power in operation and ask specialists on hand about how wind power worked. 

Guy Mortimer, the Hexham-based UK head of onshore wind development, said: “Ray Wind Farm is a major engineering development and local people will have watched the installation of turbines from afar, so we wanted people who came up to site to experience the power of the wind up close. 

“We now look forward to the generation of fossil-fuel free power for the next 20 to 25 years and Ray Wind Farm making its mark on Northumberland’s own contribution to tackling climate change.” 

As well as finding out about the construction and operation of Ray Wind Farm, people at the community day were able to discover more about the over £250,000 a year community fund from fund administrators, the Community Foundation. Vattenfall will invest into the fund for as long as the wind farm is operating.