THE owner of holiday cottages on the outskirts of Abergavenny has put up the first wind turbine in the area.

Philip Francis put the 55- foot-high turbine on his land at Main Farm House, Tredillion Market Garden, in Llantilio Pertholey, last month in a bid to cut his energy bills and reduce carbon emissions.

Mr Francis can now use the 14.26MWh of electricity per year to help save six tonnes of Co2 emission each year and cut energy bills for Tredillion holiday cottages.

The Evance R9000 wind turbine was put in place by Greenearth Energy, of Pontrilas, near Abergavenny, in two days. It will generate 10.977 kilowatt-hours a year of electricity, earning Mr Francis £3,200 from the feedin tariff.

He is able to take advantage of local wind speeds which exceed five metres per second, the minimum required for a turbine to operate effectively.

Mr Francis said: “We are over the moon. We are just trying to do our bit for the environment.”

He added the turbine will help to reduce mounting electricity bills and a holiday cottage business that could not remain affordable to customers and viable as a business in the long term if he could not reduce them.