After years of opposition to wind farms, the conservation group installs its own turbine. From BusinessGreen , part of the Guardian Environment Network

After years of barely concealed antipathy, the RSPB and the wind energy industry have today put the symbolic seal on their recent cessation of hostilities with the installation of the first RSPB wind turbine.

The small-scale 15kW turbine has been installed at the RSPB's Rainham Marshes visitor centre in Purfleet, Essex, and together with a solar array already located at the site is expected to provide enough energy to meet the centre's requirements, cutting its carbon footprint by 9,000kg a year.

Nick Bruce-White, manager of the Rainham Marshes site, said that the installation of the Proven Energy turbine demonstrated both the RSPB's commitment to tackling climate change and its support for appropriately sited renewable energy projects.

"The RSPB is often most visual when objecting to wind turbine proposals," he said. "However… wind power has a valuable role to play in contributing towards the UK's renewable energy needs, and can do so without harming wildlife. The wind turbine at Rainham Marshes is an excellent example of this."

The move comes a month after the RSPB released a study calling on the government to accelerate the rollout of onshore wind farms, and urging it to develop a wildlife sensitivity map that it argued would make it easier for wind developers to select sites that pose minimal risks to bird life.

The study was interpreted in some quarters as a declaration of peace to the UK wind energy industry, which has been repeatedly frustrated by the conservation group's opposition to numerous wind farm developments.

Alex Murley of the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) praised the installation of the new turbine at Rainham Marshes, saying that it was " gratifying to see the RSPB join the ranks of organisations recognising that in the windiest country in Europe, there are thousands of households and businesses able to generate their own clean, green energy from correctly sited wind energy technologies".

The news comes on the same day as new figures from the BWEA confirmed that the UK is now the largest exporter of small-scale wind systems, having exported 4.7MW of turbines in 2008.

The new figures showed that export revenue for UK manufacturers doubled last year, resulting in 500 new jobs and positioning the UK as the global leader ahead of Canada and the US. The data also showed that the global market for small-scale wind turbines with a capacity of less than 100kW grew 53 per cent in 2008 to almost 40MW.

• This article was shared by our content partner BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network