Please note the wind turbines in question are not for space heating, but to actually run our glass melting equipment. Our living accommodation is already insulated, converted 6 years ago from a derelict chapel (we live in the back and our workshop is in the front), with the help of a mortgage from the Ecology Building Society.
It features a condensing combi boiler, Lindab guttering, woooden double glazed windows, eco paints and varnishes, low-flush WC, energy saving bulbs, etc. etc.
This is what we propose for our business:

Elaine Sheldon and Dominic Cooney have submitted plans to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to install2 x 15kW Proven wind turbines in the field next to our live/work space, in Cellarhead. The idea is to convert our glass-melting furnace to electricity, it currently runs on natural gas and although it is highly efficient, this project will save approximately 40 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
The proposed turbines will be grid connected and on average, over the year, provide enough energy for us to run the studio.
This is an opportunity for us to make a genuine difference to our small business' sustainability.
We have been approved 50% funding of the project costs from the Dti (total costs £90,000) but obviously we cannot proceed unless we get planning permission.

If you would like to know more about our business click on this link:
http://www.sheldoncooney.com

Before I ask you to support our application, please be aware of the issues surrounding the application:

Just inside the Green Belt & Special Landscape area - although right next to main trunk A-road (A520)
The 15kW proven wind turbine is the largest of the domestic/light industrial size at 15metres mast and 9m diameter rotor
http://www.provenenergy.com/

Our average wind speed is 6.2m/s (14mph)
at this speed 2 x 15kW turbines will generate 86,000kWh annually which should be enough for our business.
The turbines are quiet as they do not have a gearbox like the massive wind farm turbines.
We are suggesting white turbine head & blades to blend in with the sky.
There is a history of wind-harvesting in the area, with windmill bases at nearby Werrington and at Meir Heath
This project also makes financial sense as the payback time is less than 10 years.

If you would like to support our planning application, please click on the link below:
http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?keyval=JDX8LCPG96000&searchtype=PROPERTY&module=

We need to get all letters of support to the council by the end of April. There is no obligation for you to support this application.
If you need any more information, or would like us to e-mail you plans or documents, just e-mail us on info@sheldoncooney.com

Thank you for your time
Kind Regards
Elaine Sheldon & Dominic Cooney.

I hope I have got other peoples sums right too, otherwise we are scuppered.
Is the Windsave unit mounted on a building? As I understand it, wind turbines are affected by the turbulence caused by buildings, trees, etc. they need a good 30metres clearance after an obstruction to allow the windspeed to pick up again.
Did they find out their average wind speed before investing? (you can search your postcode on the Dti website)
Are they in a valley?
We did look into PV but the roof area of our building wasn't big enough to generate enough electricity to melt glass.

We are basing it on the Dti windspeeds, but the site is good - it's at the top of a hill with no obstructions, and it's always windy which can be a problem when carrying paperwork/opening car doors/sporting a new hairdo
Local nick-name for our area? The Four Winds
265m above sea level + 15m for the mast
Cellarhead is often the coldest place in England because of this!

Nice to hear from someone who has a Proven turbine installed, is it performing as you expected? does it produce as much electricity as predicted from your wind speed?
Sorry for all the questions but i would like to know as much as possible about it.
Who did the installation for you?

I wouldn't object to 6 but i don't think the council will let us! (although thinking about it there probably wouldn't be enough space between them to not affect each other regarding turbulence.)

Yes I have had a lengthy conversation today with Andrew Farr of Rotary Engineering (they will be our installers) about the problem with the 15kW it was a problem with the 'damper pad' which apparently is the bit where the blades are attached on springs to the rotor enabling them to 'cone' out of the wind, the fault caused the blades to move by unequal amounts, affecting the performance output and the noise level.
They have re-designed the attachment mechanism for the 15kW blades, to something more akin to a shock absorber but in reverse, this replaces the springs. They are currently approaching the end of a 6 month working trial in order to make sure they still conform to approval for grant funding.
I have also spoken to a very nice lady at Kirklees Borough Council, where they have 3 of the 15kW windmills in their area, who said that Proven have replaced the blades on theirs with the blades off a 6kW (but still the same turbine head) as a safety measure until the trial is complete.

Please note all this information is third hand so I can't be held responsible for technical accuracy!

Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.
Whereabouts in the country are you by the way with that superb wind speed?
What happened with the system fires? did they cause a lot of damage?
and do you need batteries if you are off-grid?
Sorry for more questions!

You did well to get Planning permission for a wind turbine in the park! they're tight as the proverbial. There's a load of stuff in our local paper at the moment, I think they are holding a public meeting somewhere soon to discuss the Peak Park planning situation.

What I could really do with knowing is how the actual amount of electricity generated from a given installation compared to the predicted amount from the Dti website for that installation.
As discussed previously, it's a good site in terms of layout and position.
The figures came from Rotary Engineering as 86,000kWh per annum based on average windspeed of 6.2m/s for 2 x 15kW Proven turbines on 15m masts. I don't know how they work out these figures?
(I just checked again on the dti windspeed and it came up as 6.3m/s at 10m above ground level, rising to 6.9m/s at 25m agl so i guess it could be slightly more for a 15m mast?, although the tip of the blade at the bottom of the diameter of the swept area will only be about 10.5m off the ground)
Anyhow, I think there is a wind turbine installed at a school somewhere in Stoke city so I could try and find out how they are getting on with theirs (not far away, however down in a dip)
Jane said earlier that her 6kw would routinely put out 9kW when the wind was blowing hard?
All this may be irrelevant if the council say no.....

There was an authorative pro-green energy report issued recently covering actual operational data for commercial installations in the Uk - its on the web too but can't remember where off-hand. From memory the max was 38% in the Shetlands, with progressively lower figures working south on the west coast to about 24% in Cornwall; and considerabley less inland. I don't know whether these include downtime for repairs etc. I think it is very unlikely that a small turbine would be as efficient at harvested wind energy as these large machines.

Remember that 'windiness' varies considerably year to year; amateurs probably keep inadequate records; and they tend to be biassed - so for starters check any data against the met data for the period versus long term average.

you may be right about domestic turbines continuing to operate a very high wind speeds when commercial ones stop for safety reasons. The general problem is that the cube law ensures that the bulk of the annual energy is generated on a low proportion of windy days, so 'average wind speed' is an imprecise guide to predicting output. Wind conditions are not favourable in the Midlands and southern England, save a few coastal sites, which is why these locations are shunned. The fact is that most strong winds in the UK are generated by Atlantic depressions which track SW to NE at a latitude which is seasonal : a route from Cornwall/SW Ireland to Newcastle in winter and off NW Ireland to Caithness in summer. That's why most windfarms are located north of a line from Cornwall to Newcastle, with added preference for coastal / mountain sites where exposure is greatest.

Well, here goes. I will try to get it all down in one hit because it still makes me shake and my stomach starts to churn when I go over it all again.
It was awful. We turned up at the planning committee meeting and our neighbour opposite (who hates us for some reason?) was there to speak against our project. First things first, the committee members declare any personal or prejudicial interests, and Cllr. John Fisher (Lib Dem) who has supported the project from the start and written a letter of support declares he is biased and leaves the room. All well and good, nice and professional. Next comes the declaration from the comittee members of any "lobbying" either for or against the application. Our local councillor says we have lobbied him, as does another councillor who happens to be our county councillor as well as being on the planning committee. What they both fail to mention is that we wrote to them both back in January asking for support for our LCBP grant application from the Dti, and not for planning support!
Then it comes to lobbying against, and all but one or two of the committee admit that they have received letters against from our neighbour opposite. It comes to the speakers for and against the application, against goes first. Our neighbour gets up and openly admits to having sent letters and photos (I dread to think what of!?) to each and every one of them. In spite of this being expressly forbidden, he is allowed to continue to speak, about how the "people of Cellarhead don't want these turbines" and spouts all the usual claptrap (probably in fear of the large-scale wind farm turbines) and how we have posted the application on the WORLD WIDE WEB!
Now to set the record straight, the council sent out 40 letters of neighbour consultations (quite which 40 houses are to be affected by this i have no idea?) and received 9 letters of objection, mostly concerened about house prices or fears that can be attributed to the large-scale wind farm turbines. All the others weren't in the slightest bit bothered and did not reply. What happened to majority rule?
More later.

Oh yes.
But the experience of the planning committee meeting was enough to knock us sideways for a week, and go about our business in fear of the mob bearing flaming torches!
The planning officer recommended refusal on the grounds that it was "inappropriate development in the green belt" and that the potential benefits do not outweight the harm caused by the visual intrusion, mainly due to scale (in spite of the 2 turbines being the same height as the mature trees on the road side?).
We were basically arguing that we are being treated unfairly or with prejudice, as there is a haulage works next door that has been granted Planning permission to extend its hardstanding by 30% in two directions, as well as a new quarry just down the road, in the same bit of green belt.
Also, the Planning Officer and her superiors/managers above her have repeatedly refused to meet with us, or our Architect, to discuss the project. How arrogant is that!
We also had 27 letters of support - which they rubbished by saying that most of them were from outside the area. In answer to my neighbour, yes I did post the application on several discussion websites, including one called www.coolstoke.co.uk which is government funded to raise awareness of climate change in the North Staffordshire area. Also on this one and AECB (i am a member) and a BBC one for local people to try and raise a bit of interest locally. I got into some really interesting discussions around the subject, with a wide range of people from renewable energy specialists to students at CAT and all the green builders in between (special thanks to Jane for being inspirational) all of whom
- Questioned my maths
- Questioned my figures
- Questioned the rationale behind the project
- while we questioned our sanity!
and it was all great preparation for the big day. The committee tried to trip me up on several points, but I had answers to their questions. It was clear from the start they had already made their minds up. The final vote, 9 against and 2 in favour (at least someone is getting the message)

Anyway a lot of our neighbours have rallied round and been really supportive, including offering to write letters of support for the appeal process.

Dominic, have you read your planning department's Local Plan? It would be useful if you knew of their opinion on turbines and such. For example, according to the local plan, the Peak Park is officially in favour of domestic wind turbines but doesn't want the big, commercial ones; however, it appeared that some of the people on the planning committee weren't aware of this.

The Peak Park is now using a photo of our turbine on the front of a brochure to promote renewable development in the Park, in which you can barely see our turbine against the trees behind it. Would a copy of that be useful to you?

Would a copy of our planning application help you at all? I'd be happy to email it over. My husband is a chartered surveyor, and has worked extensively on difficult proposals (he usually wins his cases, and our turbine application went through on first attempt).

If you think it might be of any help, email me on olchet at hotmail dot com--I'm having a lot of trouble with spam on my usual address.