PLANS for a green power station in Swindon are to be unveiled before hundreds of farmers at a meeting today.

More than 200 farmers have been invited to an open day at Roves Farm, in Seven-hampton, to hear about a scheme to build one of the first wood-fuelled renewable energy projects in the country.

The scheme has been awarded a £960,000 grant from the Department of Trade and Industry, which will go towards the building costs.

A further £4m will be needed from shareholders.

The green power station will be fuelled by 5,000 hectares of willow saplings which are estimated to produce enough power for 3,000 homes.

A co-operative, expected to consist of local farmers, will run the cropping cycle and delivery. Owner of Roves Farm, Rupert Burr said: "We expect a lot of interest from farmers between Swindon and Oxford especially because of the problems they are experiencing with floods and wet ground as a result of global warming.

"Every time there is an inch of rain in Swindon, 25 acres of my farm disappears under flood water. Hundreds of other farmers are in the same situation along the Thames Valley. Some land has become unfarmable with conventional crops and animals."

Roves Farm is three miles east of Swindon.

The enterprise focuses mainly on sheep, but also grows arable crops, short rotation coppice for energy production and woodland.