Two wind turbines are set to  be installed by Bristol City Council on a site next to the Severn estuary at Avonmouth.

The council is applying to its own planners on Wednesday for permission to put the turbines on the former Shell tanker site, off Severn Road.

Councillors on the development control (north) committee are being recommended to pass the plans with conditions, including noise limits.

The site was used to store fuel in large tanks until the late 1970s.

The turbines, which would be 131 metres high, would generate up to three  megawatts of electricity.

According to the city council, that is enough to serve the needs of between 2,000 and 2,700 homes – and to avoid thousands of tonnes in emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

The council spends more than £4 million a year on electricity and it hopes the turbines will supply a fifth of its energy needs.

With easy connection to the National Grid, no homes within a third of a mile and “very good wind exposure”, the council says this is the best site it has.

When the turbines were first announced, Councillor Spud Murphy (Con, Avonmouth) said: “I think it’s wonderful. It’s the cleanest renewable energy you can get and the turbines are interesting to watch.

“We’re going to get a lot of wind in future because of the changing climate and the turbines will be facing right on to the Bristol Channel. The prevailing winds come up the channel.”

The area already has three 120-metre wind turbines, built by the Bristol Port Company and installed last year.

Plans were announced last year for nine more to be built locally by 2011, including the two the council’s energy management unit is now seeking planning permission for.

Bristol City Council has received three letters expressing a strong view for or against the turbines.

Two are in support, welcoming the initiative to find alternative energy sources.

The sole objector said there was potential risk of interference with communications networks.