Fife Council are to submit plans for a small wind power development at Lochhead Recycling Centre in Dunfermline.

The report will go before councillors on the Executive Committee recommending two 50kW wind turbines are built on the recycling and waste site.

The proposed turbines are expected to produce enough electricity each year to power almost 100 homes and would be approximately 100 feet in height.

A detailed feasibility study of the location to the north of Dunfermaline has shown that a development on the site would be both technically and financially viable.

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The initiative is expected to cost £700,000 but is expected to generate up to £1.32m profit for the council over 20 years, generating the money invested back into the building in just over eight years.

If the plans are approved, planning permission would still need to be granted before the project can progress further. If the development does go ahead, it will add to the other renewable power developments on the site, which includes an existing power station that generates electricity and heat from landfill gas and the planned production of renewable power and heat from the treatment of organic waste.

Earlier this year, the Executive Committee agreed to start investigating the feasibility of installing wind turbines on land where there is a council building, to cut energy costs, reduce carbon emissions, and generate income.

It was agreed that feasibility studies would be carried out on 50 sites owned by the council which could be suitable for building turbine developments. The studies are just the first step in the process to find out how many sites can be developed further and are expected to be completed later this year.

(JP/CD)