Sunderland City Council gives green light for Nissan wind turbine upgrades

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has approved the application for the base of Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited.

Nissan manufactures hundreds of thousands of motor vehicles every year at its existing plant, situated off Washington Road.

Earlier this year, the company celebrated building its 11 millionth car since production first started in 1986.

Plans submitted to Sunderland City Council in June, 2023, aimed to upgrade existing wind turbines at the Nissan site to “improve electricity production”.

The planning listing noted the plans included “replacement blades” for seven of the turbines on site.

A planning application noted the new blades would be “one metre longer in length each so [the] effective swept diameter of turbine increases by two meters”.

The planning application added: “Currently wind turbines are on the site and will remain, new blades [will] increase efficiency of turbines”.

After considering the planning application and assessing it against planning policies, Sunderland City Council’s planning department approved it on December 4, 2023.

Council planners, in a decision report, said the plans aimed to “improve the efficiency of existing wind turbines, and so would contribute to the development of renewable energy”.

It was also noted that the plans would have “no unacceptable visual impacts when viewed from the public domain” and would not impact neighbouring residential properties.

The council decision report added: “Newcastle Airport has raised no objections and the Civil Aviation Authority has not provided a response.

“Given the nature of the proposed development, it is considered that it would have no unacceptable impacts on air traffic safety.”

Nissan began integrating renewable energy sources in Sunderland almost two decades ago when it installed its first wind turbines on site.

In 2016, the company installed a solar farm to further contribute towards renewable energy, with planning permission also granted to expand the solar farm in 2021.

The renewable energy project was part of the plant’s EV36Zero project and the company’s journey to carbon neutrality.

Nissan hit the headlines again in November, 2023, after announcing it would invest billions to produce new electric versions of the Juke and Qashqai vehicle models at the city plant.

The announcement coincided with a visit from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said Sunderland would become the UK’s electric vehicle ‘Silicon Valley’.

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee also approved plans for new warehouses at Nissan last month.

A design and access statement submitted to council officials stated the new buildings aimed to “pressing requirement for additional storage”.