How a Bristol wind turbine is tackling poverty and climate change

On the outskirts of Bristol, tackling poverty and climate change use the same tool - the biggest onshore wind turbine in England.

The brand new turbine is owned by a community for whom the fate of the planet feels like a comparatively distant problem.

“They weren’t really interested in climate, They’ve got more pressing issues today. They know ice caps are melting thousands of miles away, but they also need ice in their freezers that are melting now, today,” says Mark Pepper, from “Ambition Lawrence Weston” - the team driving regeneration.

Lawrence Weston is a post-war estate with a mixture of small blocks of flats, privately-owned and social housing.

There are around three thousand households living here in one of the city’s poorest wards with more than the average number receiving benefits.

The turbine itself is sited a mile from Lawrence Weston in an industrial area close to Bristol Docks. The blade diameter is 115 metres and it generates 4.25 megawatts at its peak - enough for 3,500 homes.

But it’s the money generated that matters locally, around £140,000 pounds a year while they are servicing the debt and half a million a year after it is paid off.

Only one other onshore wind turbine has begun operation in England this year as the central government has had a de-facto on their development since 2015. That opposition is softening as onshore wind is acknowledged as one of the cheapest forms of energy generation.