Lodge Mill and Scout Moor

Image: © Paul Anderson Taken: 16 Apr 2007

In the foreground is the Lodge Mill housing development Image The hills behind are Scout Moor the site for the Scout Moor Wind Farm which is at present under construction. The wind farm will comprise 26 wind turbines of modern design, each having a three bladed rotor of up to 80 metres (260 feet) in diameter supported on a tapered cylindrical tower to give a height of 60 metres (195 feet) to the rotor hub and a maximum 100 metres (325 feet) to the blade tip. Each wind turbine would have a maximum power output of up to 2.5MW.s. Access to the site is via the existing Marshall's Quarry entrance off the A680 road as can be seen in the distance snaking its way up the hillside. Once built, the 26 turbines will in total generate almost 222 million kWhs of electricity on an annual basis, sufficient for 51,108 homes. This is equivalent to meeting all of the electrical needs of either more than half of the households in Rochdale or more than all of the households in Rossendale Borough. The whole site covers an area of 545 hectares (1347 acres) The Rossendale Way path traverses the site, with the Pennine Bridleway running in a north/south direction to the east of the site. This is a huge development taking about 12 months and as construction gets under way I will add more pictures in the near future.

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