THE latest designs for the proposed repowering of a Furness wind farm were put on public display at the weekend.

Around 100 people attended RWE Innogy UK’s information days at Grizebeck Village Hall to see the new plans for the Kirkby Moor wind farm.

The revised design of the windfarm includes a reduction in the number of turbines from a maximum of 13 to seven and a reduction in their tip height from a possible 130 metres to a maximum of 115 metres.

Attendees were able to:

* View the latest layout of the proposed repowered site

* Hear how feedback from last year’s information day influenced this design

 * Hear results of the community investment funding consultation

* Give views on latest plans.

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Chris Gainey, RWE Innogy UK’s Developer for the proposed repowering of Kirkby Moor, said: “Planning permission for the existing wind farm ends in 2018 and so we have been investigating options to repower the site. This not only includes replacing the existing turbines with more efficient, modern turbines, but examining a range of site designs to maximise its energy generation.

“As part of this process, we sought the views of local residents and received a lot of valuable feedback. This feedback, together with the results of our technical studies, has been used to inform the latest design of the repowered wind farm. This has included reducing the number of turbines to seven from a previous proposal of 13, and capping their tip height at 115 metres. We believe this new design is a good compromise between the number of turbines and the maximum tip height.”

Over the course of the two days, residents were also able to view images of what the repowered site could look like from various locations and find out about the last 20 years of the existing wind farm, including the energy, and economic community investment it has generated.

“The design of the repowered wind farm has not yet been finalised and so there is still time to provide us with your feedback,” said Mr Gainey.

“If the repowered site was to be consented, work is proposed to improve the ecology of the moor and an increased community investment fund, worth up to £75,000 per year over the life of the wind farm, would become available subject to the final installed capacity of the scheme.”

For details on the proposed repowering of Kirkby Moor, visit www.rweinnogy.com/kirkbymoorrepower or email: kirkbymoor@rwe.com