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• About the Project
• Benefits
• Environmental Studies
• Location
• Timeline
• University of Reading

About the Project

The University of Reading owns land south of the M4 between junctions 10 and 11 and is working with Partnerships for Renewables to explore the feasibility of siting wind turbines on the land around Rushy Mead.

The work carried out so far suggests that the site could potentially accommodate up to five wind turbines with a generation capacity of between two and three megawatts (MW).

Since the beginning of the year we have been talking and meeting with statutory consultees such as Natural England, English Heritage, Berkshire Archaeology, the Environment Agency and Planning and Environmental Health Officers from Wokingham Borough Council, in order to ensure that the environmental studies we are currently undertaking meet their requirements.

The wind resource data gathered from the monitoring mast to date confirms that the site’s wind resource is compatible with wind turbines designed for the lower-wind-speed regions of northern Europe. There are a number of wind turbines available that have been designed for this level of wind resource.  It is of course important that we have absolute confidence that any development at Rushy Mead generates a substantial amount of green energy and is economic. While we collect further data we are investigating the potential of using the latest generation of low-wind-speed turbines. These have the same tower heights (80 metres) but have longer blades (50 metres instead of 45 metres). Confirming that these turbines are a suitable option requires the completion of additional environmental and technical work. This work is expected to be completed during the autumn.

As soon as we have access to all of the required information we will be able to confirm final turbine numbers and exactly where they could be located. Once this “design freeze” has been done, stakes will be put in the ground to mark their proposed position and the final detailed assessments will be undertaken to assess any effects the turbines and layout may have on the environment and local people. If any significant effects are identified, measures will be included within the design of the scheme to ensure that they are prevented or controlled.

You may have noticed the tall thin mast that appeared on the site before Christmas. Wokingham District Council gave us planning permission at the end of September last year for the mast so that we could monitor the wind resource on the site. The mast was erected in December 2008.

We are hoping to submit an application in 2010 once we have gathered further data from the wind monitoring mast and assessed all of the available environmental information.

We will be holding two more rounds of public open days to update everyone with the results of the studies undertaken and more detailed information about the design of the project. Currently we are expecting to hold public open days at least two months prior to any planning submission so that the local community can view the details prior to a final submission is produced. We will hold two further open days when the final planning application is submitted to ensure that the local community has the necessary information to respond to the application.