Westmill Tour
Forest Community Energy Visits Westmill Community Owned Solar and Wind Farm
In the last six months we have worked in partnership with the District Council Climate Team, the Centre for Sustainable Energy, and Forest of Dean Climate Action Partnership (FODCAP) on the 'Future Energy Landscapes' project – an approach to provide communities with the information they need to start their own renewable energy projects, making community owned and managed biodiverse solar farms and wind turbines a credible proposition.
In partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Energy, we took a group of Parish, Town, District and County Councillors and Forest Community Energy members to see the wonderful Westmill Energy community owned solar and wind farm. They do both public and private tours, they use sheep to graze under the panels, and manage the site for biodiversity. We even saw a hare!
We learned that:
• Solar farms and wind turbines like at Westmill do truly fit within the beautiful landscape, creating the conditions where farming (grazing and crop production) can co-exist and increased biodiversity can thrive.
• The dream of locally owned, where profits stay with the community and the sense of pride from contributing to the clean energy transition can be a reality.
• Projects like Westmill are ideal for the Forest of Dean, where we know there is already much community support and demand.
• The wind farm generates 8.5 Gwh per annum and earns about £1m.
• The solar farm generates 4.2 Gwh per annum and earns about £2.4m - this disparity in earnings is caused by the Feed In Tarrif (a solar subsidy not available now).
• Westmill Farm is an organic farm using a low till regenerative system in the area of the energy farm. This reduces loss of carbon from the soil.
• Wind was the biggest contributor to the national power demand in 2025.
At national level, the likes of the Local Power Plan and GB Energy will accelerate projects like this, together with support from Community Energy England and others working in this space.
Many thanks for the Westmill Community Wind Farm and Solar Park visit yesterday. Very interesting to feel the power of an active and large community operation!
