The Calderdale Wind Farm’s 65 Blackpool Tower-height wind turbines would provide green electricity to more than a quarter of a million households, bring jobs to the area and give locals £75m over 30 years to help with energy bills.
Professor Rob Gross, director of Imperial College London’s UK Energy Research Centre, added: “The government will be keen that some well advanced large windfarms get going quickly. I’m sure that particular developments will come to be seen as a test case of controversial wind developments. This one might indeed be seen as that test case.”
“Areas that could pass as untouched are few and far between in this country. But the South Pennines is one of the last places like that. “Our initial plans would also see the planting of thousands of trees and other planting across Walshaw Moor to enhance flood mitigation for the benefit of villages along the Calder Valley. It will also mean the end of grouse shooting on the moor,” he said.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson declined to comment on the Calderdale proposal, however, they indicated a determination to drive through big windfarm projects more generally.