Zero carbon homes project in Nottingham grows to include neighbouring parishes as new turbine is approved

Sustainable Hockerton (SHOCK), a group of residents from the village of Hockerton, Nottinghamshire, are celebrating the planning approval approval for the installation of a 225kW wind turbine within the parish boundary by Newark & Sherwood District Council on its first attempt.

Since July 2006, residents of the parish of Hockerton have been meeting regularly to discuss ways by which it could become more sustainable and become a zero carbon ‘village’ .  Nearly 50 people, some of whom are enthusiasts and others merely interested, have attended these open meetings. The name for the group is Sustainable Hockerton, or SHOCK.

The key objective of SHOCK is to try to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, through reductions in energy use and the generation of renewable electricity. As a key first step it was decided to develop a proposal to erect a community owned wind turbine , to generate clean electricity for the parish and use any profits from this scheme to promote the other objectives.

An application for a 225kW wind turbine was submitted to the local planning authority on 29th October 2007.


To establish the available sites in the Hockerton Parish for a single wind turbine, a map was created and distributed. The high ground with an open aspect to the South West is advisable to catch the wind. This indicated land near the north boundary of the village to be a preferred location. Care was also taken to ensure that any site was at least 500m from any property (well in excess of Government guidelines).

Once such a site had been found, with support from the landowner, this location was circulated to all parish properties on a leaflet and an open meeting held. This location was agreed as a suitable location. The site is about 1km from the next nearest village and sympathetically sited away from the neighbouring parish boundary.

A wind turbine is a potentially contentious solution so it was felt a survey of parish residences was necessary to clarify the situation. This was conducted in February 2007 with about a quarter of the village residents responding of which 28 supported the idea and four were against. The majority of those in favour were also interested in financially investing in the wind turbine. It was therefore agreed to develop the proposal further towards a full planning application.

The turbine

A second hand Vesta V29 turbine from Denmark (225kW rated) is envisaged for this site. The wind turbine is a three bladed (29m diameter), up-wind machine mounted on free standing tower. The hub height of 31.5m is necessary for the turbine blades to be out of the turbulence of the ground and any surrounding trees  
However the availability of such turbines is unpredictable and so the actual turbine cannot be definitively known.


The objective of the wind turbine is to generate the equivalent amount of clean electricity that the homes use in the Hockerton parish. In summary it is estimated that the:


• Domestic consumption is 275 MWh per year.


• Turbine production would be 330 MWh per year

• Carbon dioxide equivalent saving of 176 tCO2 per year

Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) members, in particular Simon Tilley, have played a key role in facilitating and advising SHOCK. HHP itself already meets most of its energy needs from two small on site wind turbines (Proven 6kW and Iskra 5kW) and a 7.6kW photovoltaic array. This energy generation is secondary to the highly energy efficient standards of the homes, that only use 10% of the energy of a typical UK home. The aim with SHOCK is to broaden sustainable principles to the wider community.


As well as reducing energy use & energy generation, SHOCK is also interested in other aspects of sustainability, including; reduced impact from travel and waste, increasing the amount of self sufficiency in water, and raising the awareness of sustainability issues through education. It is also hoped that this will lead to an increase in the use of local skills and resources.


It is hoped that this will be a ground breaking scheme in England and so will attract media and community interest from around the country raising the profile of the district. It will also give other groups a practical example to copy; hopefully catalysing the fight against climate change in this area.
The government has initiated a program requiring all new homes to be built to a zero carbon standard by 2016.

One of the implications of this will be that these homes will have to have all their energy supplied from renewable sources. A community owned turbine in Hockerton should go along way to achieving this target for our older houses well before the 9 year dead-line.