ONE of the world's largest wind farms - being planned for the North-East - could be in line for Government cash after ministers declared 2002 "the year of renewables".
Plans are being drawn up for a wind farm at former steel sites at Redcar and Lackenby, on Teesside, which would be home to 19 140m wind turbines.
The £30m Tees Wind North Project, based on a partnership between steel company Corus and Amec Wind, of Hexham, Northumberland, will supply enough electricity to meet the needs of 30,000 households, or 72,000 people - more than half the population of the borough of Redcar and Cleveland.
Energy Minister Brian Wilson has said that the Government's Renewables Obligation, which comes into effect on April 1, will transform the market and require electricity companies to purchase a proportion of power from renewable sources, at a premium price.
The Government is investing £260m in the development of renewable technologies over the next three years and a substantial part of that funding will be given this year to the first generation of the UK's wind farms.
The Teesside project is expected to go before members of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's planning committee in the next couple of months
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