£48,000-wind turbine in Wales generates only £5 worth of power a month

Blundering officials have been slammed for installing a wind turbine in such a calm area that it would take 452 years to generate enough energy to pay for itself.

The Welsh government spent £48,000 of tax payers money on the "obscenely expensive vanity project", which produced only £5 worth of electricity a month.

According to officials, the ultra-low output of the turbine was due to a mechanical failure, though the company which installed the structure said it was the location which was to blame.

Instead of putting up the 60-ft turbine on one of the UK's windiest coastlines, the turbine had been sited in a valley two miles from blustery Cardigan Bay, near government offices at Aberystwyth in West Wales.

According to Jonathan Isaby, political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, if the project had been started when Elizabeth I was on the throne, it would only be reaching break-even point now, sixty years into the reign of Elizabeth II.

He added it beggared belief that tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers'  money was squandered on a scheme that offered such a miniscule return.

It would seem that the turbine's installation had been nothing more than an obscenely expensive vanity project, with the bill being paid by unwitting taxpayers.

The turbine had been sited at the Aberystwyth office of the Welsh Government since it was built in 2009, and was one of several features that contributed to the building being rated ''excellent'' in an independent assessment of its sustainability.

Between January 2012 and July this year the turbine generated 585 kilowatt hours of energy (kWh) - an average of 33 kWh per month, which at 16p - the current price of electricity per kWh in the consumer market - worked out to generating value of £5.28 per month.

According to Paul Burrell from Anemos, a company which installs wind turbines, in the right location turbines like this could be very effective.

He added, the problem was quite simple - the turbine had been put in the wrong place; it should have been placed in an exposed location rather than a valley near other tall buildings in a built-up area.