A WINDfarm helping to power one of the North-East's biggest industrial sites receives national recognition today.

Nissan's £2.3m windfarm, at its Wearside motor manufacturing plant, is named among the ten best green energy projects to begin generating electricity in the past year.

Ironically, news of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) accolade comes only a week after a fire destroyed one of the site's six 75-ft long fibreglass wind turbines.

Last Friday, smoke billowed across the nearby A19 dual carriageway.

Part of the A19 was closed, along with the adjoining A1231 Sunderland Highway, amid fears that the 200-ft tower bearing the turbine might collapse.

The fire broke out on a turbine under repair after what is thought to have been an oil leak.

Nissan has shut the windfarm to allow engineers to carry out checks on the other five turbines. The work is being carried out during the Christmas shut-down.

The turbines were mounted in August and September after Sunderland City Council granted planning permission for up to seven of the 200-ft structures on the site.

They are estimated to be capable of generating five per cent of the plant's power needs, reducing the site's carbon dioxide emissions in the process.

The equivalent energy production would be sufficient to power about 2,000 homes.

Nissan bought the six turbines for £1.1m from a windfarm in Germany, and a company spokesman said that, until the fire, they appeared to be in excellent condition.

The DTI award recognises it as among the ten most "exciting and innovative projects", helping to raise awareness of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with Government targets for the next five years.

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said: "The projects highlighted have certainly made their contribution to reducing carbon emissions and increasing the megawatt capacity coming from green sources.

"It also helps people understand what renewable energy is and where it comes from."

Other winners include an offshore windfarm in the Thames Estuary and a solar power scheme at the Eden Centre, in St Austell, Cornwall.