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Wind turbines at GreenPark business centre, Reading

With business for green energy companies booming in the UK, and a thriving global market in wind energy, the future is looking up for wind power generation. As the most cost effective way of producing renewable electricity, businesses and private households are now realising that they can opt for wind energy without it costing the earth.

Ecotricity, a fast-growing installer of wind turbines in the UK, has played a significant part in boosting the wind sector here as well as helping the UK meet its targets for electricity generation from renewable energy. By the end of 2006 Ecotricity had 11 wind farms of 27 MW, which is about one in ten of all onshore wind projects in the UK. The company's turbines are delivering 46 GWh/year of renewable electricity and avoiding around 46,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions a year. The installed capacity is expected to double by the end of 2007.

Since 1991 the company has worked hard to make wind power a more popular and acceptable renewable energy option in the UK. Although wind turbines generally have public support both at the national level and around sites where they have been installed, vocal opponents often block planning permission for wind developments.

Ecotricity's success is put down to several factors - close consultation with local communities, careful selection of wind farm sites away from scenic locations, installing only single or small groups of turbines and using the most efficient and reliable turbines available. With this unique approach, Ecotricity has achieved an impressive 90% success rate with wind farm planning applications compared to the industry average of 60%.

The company - with more than 30,000 domestic electricity customers and 1,000 commercial customers - invests its profits back into the development of wind power as part of its long-standing commitment to the environment.

Ecotricity also runs a' Merchant Wind Power' scheme which has attracted businesses that might not otherwise have opted for wind power. Through this scheme, turbines are installed to supply electricity directly to the distribution network of a business instead of to the national grid. By getting the power directly, the business avoids the losses and costs associated with grid transmission and any excess can still be sold. This means that the turbines can be economic at sites with a lower wind speed than is usually possible.

One Merchant Wind Power customer, Mr Julius Brinkworth, Energy Manager of Sainsbury's explains the benefits, "With this project Ecotricity has helped us to meet our environmental goals and our energy needs. We have this fantastic state-of-the-art wind turbine on our site which not only looks great but is providing almost half of the depot's electricity, with no carbon emissions, and at a competitive price."

Ecotricity turbines now supply about 24% of the electricity sold, and all the profit from sales are invested in new wind farm development, supplemented by commercial loans.

Although many other installers are struggling to source turbines because of the huge demand on the world market, Ecotricity's partnership with wind turbine manufacturer Enercon has guaranteed a supply of efficient and reliable turbines. The Enercon turbines can work even at relatively low wind speed, they have slow rotation, low noise levels and aesthetic blade design.