Construction work at a new £17.5m wind farm near Darlington has reached its halfway point with the erection of the scheme's third turbine.
Banks Renewables is currently building the Moor House wind farm on land to the north east of Barmpton, around three miles to the east of the A1, and despite facing periods of challenging autumnal weather, the project team is on track to put the remaining three turbines in place over the next few weeks.
Testing and commissioning work for what will be the ninth onshore wind farm that County Durham-headquartered Banks Renewables has built will then follow, with the scheme expected to start generating clean green energy early in the new year.
Details of how applications can be made by local groups to the £750,000 community benefits fund that will be part of the Moor House wind farm's operations will be released shortly.
An annual allowance of £15,000 will be available in support of local community groups, environmental projects and voluntary organisations, while the same amount again will be available every year to support activities related to employment and training opportunities.
A further one-off allocation of £50,000 will be ring-fenced for energy efficiency and micro-renewables projects for community buildings within the area surrounding the wind farm.
Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at The Banks Group, adds: "We have an excellent team of contractors on site who are moving quickly to put the Moor House turbines in place as safely and efficiently as possible, and the progress that's being made is very impressive.
"We're on target to have construction work finished within the next few weeks, and expect to be generating clean, green electricity early in 2018.
"The Moor House community fund will have a substantial long-term impact on the facilities available for local people, and will add to the direct local employment, economic and supply chain benefits that have already resulted from this scheme.
"Modern, efficient, indigenous onshore wind farms such as Moor House are acknowledged as providing the lowest cost form of renewable energy generation, and as a County Durham business, we're proud to be one of the UK's leading owner-operators in the onshore wind sector."
For further information on the Moor House project, please visit www.banksgroup.co.uk/moor-house/
