400ft windmills plan for Mersey; Turbines will power town size of Crosby.

Byline: BY LARRY NEILD

FIVE wind turbines, each more than 400ft high, could be built on the Mersey river wall, producing enough power to meet the household needs of towns the size of Crosby or Wallasey.

The turbines will join the existing six wind-power generators already erected along the river wall on the Liverpool-Sefton boundary.

The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company has submitted planning applications for the pounds 12m development to both Sefton and Liverpool councils.

Three of the proposed turbines will be in Sefton and the other two in Liverpool.

If the go-ahead is given it is anticipated that the turbines will be built next summer.

Each of the new generation windmills will be able to produce up to three megawatts of electricity, five times the power each of the first six turbines positioned on Seaforth Dock wall is capable of generating.

The turbines will be spaced some 500 metres apart over a two kilometre stretch of the river front from West Alexandra Dock, just south of Gladstone River Entrance, to the southern end of Huskisson Dock.

Their location further up river and straddling the boundary between Sefton Borough and the city, means that to catch the wind, their tapering towers will be 90 metres tall, against the 50 metre towers of the turbines at the mouth of the Mersey.

Each of the blades will be slimmer but longer at 45 metres, making a maximum total height of 135 metres.

The decision to build a second generation of wind turbines was prompted by the push for electricity produced from renewable sources.

Much of the power from the new turbines is expected to be sold to a supplier serving local communities.

The five turbines will generate enough "green" electricity to meet the household power needs of thousands of homes while contributing to the Government's 2010 target of producing 10% of electricity from renewable sources.

Submitted with the applications was a comprehensive environmental impact study following consultation with relevant organisations as well as the local authorities.

Mersey Docks Chief Engineer Tim Bownes said: "We have listened closely to what interested parties have had to say before submitting our proposals. We believe these new turbines will prove as much a complementary river front feature as the established units at Seaforth Dock.

"The new turbines have to be considerably taller than their predecessors to operate efficiently in their up-river and more sheltered location. But they will be positioned on the river wall of an industrial port environment with other high structures and will be at least a kilometre from the nearest residential property.

"There were understandable concerns in the community before the Seaforth wind turbines were erected in the spring of 1999 but once they were built all the fears were allayed.

Indeed, the windmills are now regarded as something of an attraction

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An artist's impression of the windmills