A COMMUNITY wind farm could be set up in Portishead as part of a drive to make the town more environmentally friendly.

The Transition Portishead group, which launched a year ago to look at ways of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases the town produces, is to investigate the possibility of setting up the farm.

The group, which already has 180 supporters, wants to work with a local landowner or farmer and put up wind turbines on the land.

The landowner would be paid rent and a community interest company, set up by Transition Portishead supporters, would run the farm.

The electricity generated would be put back into the national grid and fed into local homes.

Money raised from the sale of the electricity would be ploughed back into maintaining the wind turbines and possibly expanding the scheme to other areas of the town. The eco group is also considering the possibility of harnessing tidal power in the Severn Estuary to generate energy.

The idea for Portishead to have its own wind farm follows on from similar projects across the country.

Transition Portishead spokesman Jon Gething said: "Our next step will be to assess the potential for renewable energy generation in the town.

"With average wind speeds around 13mph, Portishead is situated in an area of good average wind speeds and should be a suitable location for wind turbines.

"It also has the second highest tide in the world and there may be ways of harnessing the fast tidal currents just off shore.

"The rise and fall of the water level in the marina could be another potential source of tidal power. We are looking at developing these ideas over the next 10 to 20 years.

"Technology is developing all the time and considerable amounts of investment will be needed.

"We will need the help of the town council, local businesses and local organisations as well as local residents.

"The challenge is a big one but so are the potential benefits of local, reliable, community owned energy.

"At the moment, we are just floating the idea and there are no fixed or firm plans but we want to see if people are interested.

"We used to be a town best known for its power stations – so let's see if we can make that happen again but this time with clean, sustainable energy that is managed by Portishead people."

The group is working carrying out an energy audit for Portishead Town Council and meeting with local businesses and Gordano School to see how they can reduce their energy use. It is also encouraging people to look at ways of reducing energy use in their own homes.

The group has organised a home energy day at the Somerset Hall on September 11 from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

Information will be available from a variety of organisations and businesses to guide people in reducing energy consumption at home and changing to renewable energy such as solar hot water and electricity generation

Admission is free and there will be childrens' activities on offer.

Mr Gething said: "Everyone recognises the need to tackle climate change and there is increasing recognition of the problem of ever-increasing oil prices.

"The sooner we face up to these challenges, the easier it will be to find alternatives."

For more information, log onto www.transitionportishead.org.uk.