THE first community windpower project in the Forest is looking for cash-backing from local people.

The project at Great Dunkilns Farm in St Briavels is a partnership between farmer Mr Anthony Cooke and the Resilience Centre in St Briavels.

Individuals will be able to invest in the project in the form of debentures – unsecured bonds – by signing up to a new-model financial services company called Abundance Generation.

A single 500-800 kilowatt turbine is to be installed at Great Dunkilns Farm later this year.

It will be capable of producing the energy equivalent to meet the electrical demand of 300 homes or 12.5 per cent of the St Briavels parish.

The minimum investment from individuals will be £5 but it will also be open to businesses, charities and other organisations, said Andrew Clarke of the Resilience Centre.

He said: "We have spent a lot of time researching and analysing the various models of community involvement in renewables and believe this new product is the most widely accessible and best meets our aspirations to involve and benefit the community."

The Great Dunkilns turbine will generate electricity for use both on site and for export into the local grid and will qualify for payments under the government's Feed in Tariff scheme for wind projects, which guarantees an inflation-linked rate for the electricity generated for the lifetime of the project on commissioning.

Abundance will raise the £1.3 million by offering debentures to the public.

Talks are underway with farmers in Lydney, Alvington, Woolaston and Tidenham about similar projects.