City stadium turbine plan ditched [National Wind Watch]
Plans for a wind turbine on top of the City of Manchester Stadium have been abandoned for fear of falling ice.
Planning permission for the 280ft (85m) turbine - which would have powered the stadium and some neighbouring homes - was granted in August 2006.
But the project was delayed after experts warned of a risk of ice falling from the blades in cold weather.
A Manchester City Football Club spokesman said it had now become “impractical to continue”.
The turbine, designed by Sir Norman Foster, was planned as a partnership between the club and green energy company Ecotricity.
Concerns were raised by Ecotricity earlier this year after they had been approached by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) about possible ice formations on the wind turbines.
The HSE said there was a risk of ice forming on the huge blades and falling to the ground when temperatures dropped below -4C (25F).
Manager of social responsibility at the football club, Pete Bradshaw, said: “What was required was an exclusion zone beneath the wind turbine that was almost 100m (328ft) in diameter.
“We couldn’t commit to that in an urban setting, it’s absolutely impossible.”
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