The wind farm, which was commissioned in March 1997 after three months of construction, is unique in our portfolio as the only project using twin-bladed turbines.

It is estimated Great Eppleton generates enough electricity to supply 1300 homes, whilst at the same time annually saving approximately 21 tonnes of sulphur dioxide and seven tonnes of oxides of nitrogen from reaching the atmosphere. Great Eppleton also saves 3390 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The wind farm is not normally manned as the turbines are remotely monitored from E.ON Renewable’s Rheidol Power Station.

In January 2007 we submitted a planning application with Sunderland City Council to repower the wind farm at Great Eppleton. This means removing the old turbines and replacing them with state of the art machines that could quadruple the capacity of the scheme. In April 2007 we received planning consent from Sunderland City Council to repower the site at Great Eppleton. The new turbines would be between two and three megawatts and could produce enough electricity to power more than 5000 homes annually.

We are also sponsoring Durham Wildlife Trust's 'Coals to Voles' water vole recovery project in the Hetton area, which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. We have agreed to sponsor a water vole survey within 4km of Great Eppleton. The aim of the survey is to safeguard existing water vole populations and to improve habitats in surrounding areas to allow the number of voles to increase naturally.