The Galsworthy wind farm in Great Torrington consists of four turbines with a capacity of 9.2MW, which provide power to around 7,000 UK homes per year as well as delivering more than £200,000 in funding and investment to the local area over its 25-year lifetime.

As well as the subsidy from Triodos, Ecotricity used funds from the sale of its green investment bonds, Ecobonds, to finance the early development of the project.

Last month, edie reported that the UK is at its lowest renewable energy attractiveness level since 2009.

Green electricity

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: “In the current political environment, with government support for renewables continually slashed, energy policy loading the dice for fracking and nuclear, and with Local Communities Secretary Eric Pickles ‘calling-in’ countless renewable projects only to turn them down, there’s no doubt that traditional investors have started to see the industry as a riskier investment than before.

“Government energy policy has had a big impact: there would certainly have been more wind and solar farms built if this coalition government had not taken power. In this challenging context, we have had to draw on strong partnerships with organisations like Triodos, and be even more imaginative in our funding, as we did by issuing our green investment bonds, Ecobonds.”

“Galsworthy is another great project for us and the first of many more sites to come from Ecotricity, despite these difficult times. As both a supplier and a generator, we already make about 40% of the green electricity that we supply to our 140,000 customers ourselves, and our aim is for 100%: complete energy independence.”

Ecotricity now has 70MW total capacity across 17 sites as well as 70MW consented to and more than 200MW on the cards.

Galsworthy wind farm statistics


  • Site address: Galsworthy Farm, Stibb Cross 
  • Number of turbines: 4 
  • Rotor diameter: 70m 
  • Hub height: 64m 
  • Capacity: 9.2MW 
  • Green electricity per year: 22.34 million units 
  • Homes powered (equiv): 6,769 
  • Tonnes of CO2 saved p.a.: 9,606 

Click here for an interview with Dale Vince: the highs and lows of a renewables advocate

Lois Vallely

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe