Wind farm Haarweg, Wageningen
Since 1996, the municipality of Wageningen has been looking into wind energy as one of the possible means of transforming the energy consumption within its border to a more sustainable one. In the early years, a number of studies have been performed, which showed the area between the Haarweg and the Haarwal (at the west-side of Wageningen) as the only real option to erect a wind farm. In the years that passed however, little to nothing has been archieved by the municipality.
Therefore, around the summer of 2003 a group of Wagningen citizens united with the goal of speeding up this proces.
Furthermore, they wanted to make sure that, since the turbines were be erected in the future they would be located 'in their backyard', the revenues of the wind farm would be (partly) designated to the Wageningen population.
One of the main goals of the initiative however, was to make sure that the proces of reviewing the opportunities for wind, would be correct. Reduce any hindrance to surrounding nature areas, make sure to minimize sound pressure at nearby dwellings etc., while still envisioning an economically viable project.
At present, after a lot of hastle, the municipality has been forced up to speed again, the Province of Gelderland has been prompted for action to incorporate the Haarweg-area as a possible location for wind energy and initial rounds with potential project developers have been concluded.
This website is giving a short overview of the different pros and cons of the wind farm initiative in Wageningen. It provides visualisations (though unfortunately, from earlier, smaller scale plans but on the same location), background information of the project and the Stichting WindEnergie Wageningen and the oppertunity to subscribe as a 'euro-member' in which one will be briefed several times per year about on-going issues and the progress made.
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