Over the past 30 years, Devon and Cornwall have played a massive role in the UK's unique love/hate relationship with renewable energy.

The south west was home to the UK's first ever wind farm and has since seen thousands of ground-breaking and controversial projects.

As well as large-scale initiatives, many smaller renewable schemes such as solar roof panels and heat pumps have been adopted by residents.

But not all of these schemes - large or small - have been popular. In fact, almost every single one has attracted some sort of objection.

Dozens of controversial schemes have divided communities and destroyed friendships, with some of the more ambitious projects eventually being overturned, withdrawn or just ditched.

Here we take a look at some of the biggest, most ground-breaking and controversial renewable energy projects in the South West - some of which still stand today, while others never quite made it to fruition.

Delabole - The UK's first wind farm

The Delabole Wind Farm and former Gaia Energy Centre pictured in 2006

Cornwall was a pioneer in the renewable energy game when, in November 1991, it became home to the UK's very first commercial wind farm.

The site, which stands 800 feet above sea level, was seen as the perfect location for wind turbines, with Cornwall often facing the brunt of the Atlantic ocean's weather systems.

The farm was first proposed by landowners Peter and Martin Edwards back in 1989 and was officially opened in 1991.

They chose to invest in the turbines, instead of a nuclear power plant, in the hope of pushing the UK in a greener direction.

It took three months of construction to build the site and less than a month to commission the turbines.

And Delabole wasn't just a green energy hub - it was also a tourist attraction. In its first year, more than 100,000 visitors came to the site to look around the turbines on specially devised tourist walks.

The Vestas turbines at Delabole

For its first two decades, it operated 10 400kW Vestas wind turbines. However, these were decommissioned in 2010 to make way for newer technology.

In February 2011, a £11.8 million rebuilding of the facility was completed, which replaced the original ten turbines with four larger turbines standing at 98 meters - three times larger than their predecessors.

The funding came from a £9.6 million loan from the Co-operative bank and £2.2 million equity from Good Energy's own resources.

After the rebuilding, the facility has a potential power output of 9.2 megawatts, an increase from the original four megawatt output.

In the beginning of 2013, Good Energy started offering a 20 percent discount on energy bills to the residents living within two miles of the wind farm.

According to The Guardian, the projected savings is £110 annually, where the average national household payment is about £550.

The controversial Atlantic Array

An artist's impression of the proposed Atlantic Array wind farm from Lundy Island

An artist's impression of the proposed Atlantic Array wind farm from Lundy Island

Back in 2005 plans were devised for 240 offshore wind turbines 10 miles off the North Devon coast.

Energy firm RWE were behind the proposals, claiming it would create up to 1,000 jobs in North Devon and supply a large amount of electricity to the area.

However, the plans attracted huge opposition. Two organised protest groups - "Atlantic Disarray" and "Slay The Array" - were vehemently opposed to the project on both visual and environmental grounds.

The project was eventually abandoned in December 2013 after RWE said the project was "no longer economically viable".

Peter Crone and his former company Farm Energy devised the initial plans for the Atlantic Array. He is also the man responsible for the UK's largest offshore wind farm, the London Array.

Although Peter was disappointed that the project ultimately failed, speaking to Devon Live last year he believed it was only a matter of time before an enormous offshore wind farm in the Bristol Channel is given the go ahead.

A map showing the approximate location of the proposed Atlantic Array wind farm back in 2009 (this was produced for illustrative purposes only - not to scale)

A map showing the approximate location of the proposed Atlantic Array wind farm back in 2009 (this was produced for illustrative purposes only - not to scale)

And he thinks the Atlantic Array itself could still be on the cards - but on a much bigger scale.

In March last year the Government revealed it wanted 30% of electricity to come from offshore wind by 2030.

Speaking at the time Peter said: "We have been revisiting the Atlantic Array plans for some time - there is a lot of interest in a development in the Bristol channel.

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"The chances of a project at the Atlantic Array site however are quite slim. The huge tidal changes there make the depth of sand at that site shallow, meaning it would need a different type of foundations which are expensive and harder to install - though not impossible.

"If we were to go for the project again I think we'd go for a site to the west of Lundy instead. If we went 20km west of Lundy we would be out in the wider expanses of the Bristol channel where there are no shipping routes, virtually no UK fishing and much less visual impact.

"For a project like this, I think we'd be looking at a significant scale - up to 400 turbines with 140 metre high towers and 200 metre rotas.

"The previous ones for the Atlantic Array were around 100 metres tall with 120 metre rotas.

"The new area to the west of Lundy has a water depth of about 70 metres so we have been looking at floating foundations.

"It's a long-term shot but there are a lot of interested parties and it could be here sooner than we think."

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Fullabrook - England's biggest wind farm

The huge turbines of Fullabrook Wind Farm loom large over North Devon

As well as the UK's first wind farm, the South West also played host to the biggest wind farm in England.

The Fullabrook project saw 22 110-metre turbines erected on farm land between Barnstaple and llfracombe in North Devon back in 2010.

According to owners the farm's Irish owners ESB Energy, Fullabrook can generate enough electricity to power around 42,100 households a year, which equals to around 30% of Devon.

They also claim the operation of Fullabrook Wind Farm saves more than 180,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

These enormous windmills, which can be seen from miles away and across the Rivers Taw and Torridge, attracted a huge amount of opposition when plans were first submitted in 2007.

Locals claimed the turbines would spoil the surrounding landscape and thereby disrupt tourism, on which the local economy depends.

The 100-metre turbines can be seen from miles around

The plans were eventually passed - but the objections didn't stop there.

Over the years complaints were made about the noise generated by the turbines, prompting North Devon Council to set up sound testing equipment across the site in 2012.

It was found that four of the 12 locations failed to meet required noise pollution standards, with similar tests in 2014 finding seven locations exceeding acceptable noise levels.

Owners ESB eventually agreed a plan of action with North Devon Council to mitigate the noise levels.

However, the financial legacy of Fullabrook wind farm can also be seen across North Devon, thanks to a community interest company (CIC) set up in its wake.

The Fullabrook Wind Farm in North Devon

Fullabrook CIC was set up to administer a Community Fund established by Devon Wind Power Ltd, who own Fullabrook Wind Farm. The CIC operates totally independently of Devon Wind Power and its parent company, ESB Wind Development UK Ltd.

The fund started with £1 million when the wind farm began generating electricity in 2011, and receives a further annual payment of £100,000 from Devon Wind Power each year that the wind farm generates power.

The CIC, which is managed by a team of publicly elected directors, offers grants to voluntary and community groups to assist with the regeneration and sustainability of the local area.

Hundreds of projects - from youth sport groups to local theatres - have benefited from grants ranging between £100 and £200,000.

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The £42m Cornish wave hub - that's produced nothing for years

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Despite taking seven years to bring to fruition and being dogged by last minute delays, there was excitement about the introduction of a Wave Hub off the North Cornish coast when it was installed back in 2010.

The hub, a 12-tonne extension socket located 12 miles off Hayle, features four inputs that allow numerous forms of wave energy devices to transmit electricity back to the mainland.

However, in 2018 it was revealed that the hub - which cost £42 million of taxpayers money - had not produced a single kiloWatt of electricity.

The undersea socket, the brainchild of the South West Regional Development Agency, can accommodate up to four power-producing devices but has hosted only one project since 2010 while a second potential customer has now decided to test its own device off the coast of Australia rather than off Cornwall which has some of the biggest waves in Europe.

How Wave Hub was supposed to work (Image: Wave Hub)

Carnegie - an Australian company - was given £9.6m from the European Regional Development Fund to test its device in Cornwall but has now pulled out.

American company, Gwave, which is also linked to the Cornish site with a monster device the size of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet that pitches from side to side in the waves creating power through the rolling movement, was due to plug into Wave Hub in the summer of 2018.

But at the time the firm said it could be a further two years before it comes to Cornwall.

According to the Wave Hub the UK’s target is to generate 30% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, as a way of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and providing greater energy security.

The Wave Hub has received £10m in EU funding to produce renewable energy in Cornwall from waves

The Wave Hub has received £10m in EU funding to produce renewable energy in Cornwall from waves

Here's what the Wave Hub should have been:

  • Four cable connection points for testing offshore renewable energy technology
  • Purpose built and commissioned, grid connected infrastructure with a 30MW export capacity, upgradable to 48MW
  • Grid connection at either 11kV or 33kV
  • Fully consented testing environment with a a 25 year seabed lease
  • Water depths ranging from 51m - 57m
  • One of the best wave resources in Europe
  • Wave climate monitoring
  • Full range of robust baseline data
  • Proximity to a variety of ports and associated infrastructure
  • Access to expert academic institutions specialising in offshore renewables
  • Access to funding support
  • A dedicated operational team
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The great solar farm rush and the future of sun power

Solar panel installation at Heathcoat Fabrics

During the early 2010s, you'd be forgiven for thinking that solar energy had replaced gold in terms of value with thousands of applications submitted for panels across Devon and Cornwall.

The reason? Well, in 2010 the Government launched the feed-in-tariff to encourage homeowners to create their own renewable energy.

The scheme promised to pay the tax-free rates in line with inflation for 25 years using a green levy on the nation's power bills.

It first offered around 46p for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of solar energy homeowners produced and used — meaning households could earn around £1,000 a year.

And for those who could not afford to pay for the panels outright, some installers offered to put panels on their roof free of charge in exchange for the tariff income.

But while the feed-in-tariffs proved to be rich pickings for some households, the gravy train has now well and truly ended.

A solar farm

A solar farm

The feed-in-tariff payment was slashed in 2012 to 24p/kWh and is now just 3.7p/kWh, meaning you can now earn an average of just £145 a year.

Solar panel installations on homes across the UK have already fallen, down 94% compared to 2015.

The industry has also suffered 18,000 job losses, and between 30-40% of remaining firms are now considering closure.

But while the number of applications for solar panels may have dropped since the feed-in-tariffs were scrapped, the issue is still rumbling on in some parts of the south west.

Earlier this month the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) raised concerns about plans for a 160-acre solar farm in North Devon.

The group say Bristol-based Aura Power is considering developing the huge array of ground-mounted PV panels on a site to the west and north of Litchardon Cross near Barnstaple.

Plans for solar panels. (Image: CPRE)

They claim it would be the largest planned solar farm in Devon and would generate 49,000 MWh of electricity a year.

In a press release, CPRE Devon Director Penny Mills said: “We urge local members to go along, as there are many concerns about these plans,including the visual impact of such a big solar array with all the security fencing that will be required over such a large area.

"There is also some doubt that the local grid has the capacity to handle the intermittent and uncontrollable electricity which will be generated.”