AFTER a long battle with bureaucracy, a local family has finally been able to install the first wind turbine in Abergavenny.

Phil and Val Francis are the owners of a number of holiday cottages at Tredillion Market Garden in Llantilio Pertholey and live on site in the main farmhouse.

And after nearly two years from starting their original investigation into the project, a 55-foot-high turbine has been erected on a rising hill in a bid to cut the complex's energy bills - and at the same time reduce carbon emissions.

The turbine has been sited so that it can take advantage of the wind speeds on the hill, which exceed five metres per second - the minimum speed required for a turbine to be efficient.

However, the new wind turbine is still dwarfed by an electricity pylon in the next field and any noise generated from the new turbine will pale into insignificance when the wind starts whistling through the wires of the electric pylons.

Mr Francis explained that the family had looked at alternative methods of saving energy on their six holiday cottages, from double-glazing to extra insulation throughout the complex and the farmhouse, yet the ongoing costs continued to rise.

The Francis family turned to Greenearth Energy from Pontrilas for advice and together they decided that a wind turbine was a more practical solution to their problem than installing photovoltaic panels on the roof or heat source pumps.

Mr Francis said: "We moved onto a working farm 25 years ago and at the time we were advised to diversify our activities to ensure sustainability.

"But within a short space of time the farm became unviable and we turned to providing holiday cottage accommodation full time.

"Over the years we have increased the number of cottages on site, but the knock on effect is a huge increase in our energy bills.

"The combined electric bill, as there is no gas alternative, is extortionate and we had to do something drastically and quickly to bring our costs down.

"We've already done everything to reduce costs by insulating throughout and installing the most efficient storage heaters available.

"But still the bills were over £300 per month and there was nothing else we could do to make the properties cheaper to run and so we looked at alternative energy as a means to making the business viable."

The family decided that as the land was exposed to South Westerly winds that it would produce more energy than a 10 kilowatt solar panel and started the planning process for a wind turbine.

Mr Francis said: "There was a lot of stress with this application as it took over 12 months to complete and had to overcome numerous obstacles along the way.

"We nearly gave up, but ventured on, as we knew it was the only way to keep the business afloat in the long run.

"Yes the financial outlay is quite significant, but I feel we can earn £3,200 a year from the feedin tariff, and in seven to ten years time we will have paid for everything and the income from the tariff becomes ours to offset the bills. "

It took just two days to install Greenearth's Evance R9000 wind turbine, which will generate around 10.97 kilowatt-hours a year of electricity.

"I feel the design sits in with the environment and in time the shiny nature of the turbine will have dulled down and will hardly be noticeable and blend in with the landscape.

He added the turbine will help to reduce mounting electricity bills and a holiday cottage business that could not remain affordable to customers and viable as a business in the long term if he could not reduce them.

Mrs Francis added: "You can't hear the turbine in action as the sound of it is drowned out by the wind rushing through the national grid's electricity pylons."

Dai Rees, Greenearth's technical director said: "We were delighted to provide and install Mr Francis with a 5kW Wind Turbine. This is the UK's number one turbine in this size range, with over a thousand installed across the country.

"The UK has the best potential for wind generation in Europe. If you have a windy site it is well worth considering installing a wind turbine as energy generation outperforms solar panels.

"As part of Greenearth Energy's commitment to the environment, we plant a tree for every installation we carry out. And this is no exception and we are delighted to donate a tree to Mr Francis to plant on his farm."