Windfarms - revisited
Posted: Wednesday, 19 April 2006 |
I was pleased to read on that the two windfarms for Lewis (Ness to Stornoway and Eishken) are due to be debated again by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. There has been a storm following the Comhairle's decision in June 2005 to approve the two proposals. At least three councillors have been called to account by their respective community councils (Ness, Airidhantuim and Laxdale) over their decision to vote in favour. Several ballots in the areas mentioned revealed a large percentage (varying between 50 and 90%) opposed to the windfarm proposals as they stand.
Eishken landowner Nick Oppenheimer has already slashed the number of turbines he wants on his estate from 133 to 53. In approving the North Lewis scheme, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar reduced the number of turbines up there from 234 to 209. It is going to be very interesting to see what is going to happen in the Comhairle's debating chamber. I would also like to know whether new expert advice from various bodies like SNH and RSPB will have an influence on the eventual decision.
I suggest a secret ballot be taken of all residents of the islands of Lewis and Harris to gauge their support or opposition to the proposals as they stand to date.
Whilst being in favour of using renewable energy, I hold the opinion that the colossal schemes which are being planned for the Highlands and Islands have too severe an environmental impact. I'm not just talking about the views, but also about influence on birdlife and (in the case of Lewis) the layer of peat.
Comments
Why has a Boeing 747 got caught in the rotor arms? What about Loganair flights - will they be ensnared too. We need to know.
sopwithcalum from Spitfire Shieling Dell Moor Lewis
Objections can be lodged until May 12th.
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
It can't be fair that an island like Lewis hosts wind turbines to supply the mainland with power. If Lewis can find a way to generate enough power for its residents, it should be left alone.
SPM from Cambridge
I have it on good authority that the development will NOT go ahead. If it does, my semtex supply will be used to good effect to topple the monsters.
Windy Miller from Vatisker
I love the way people opposing renewable energy projects always preface their remarks with "Whilst being in favour of using renewable energy..." Could those who oppose local projects like this - which stand to greatly benefit the islands economic future - also please state what they would suggest as an alternative economic future for the island?
Mike from Fife
I repeat that the unplanned, unstrategic approach to Windfarms in the UK is a deliberate policy to get people's backs up so that we all say ok, we'll have nuclear power then. Don't fall for it.. We could all supply enough power for our own houses if we wanted to (see that bloke in Peckham!).
re-iteration from Non-environmentally renewables
Good man Windy - I'm with you. Alan John's shop in Lionel has an offer on detonators.
calumarsenal from Colleshnickoff Cottage Ness AK47 P45
I shudder to think what the rotor arms would do to a Loganair Lilliput. Chop, shred and compost, I presume. Maybe Windy Miller might wish to read Edward Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang: a fun read and right up W.M.' s alley.
mjc from NM,USA
Seems to me that if you have 300 turbines you may as well take 3000, its going to make little difference and you may as well stuff up one place rather than vast areas of Scotland. As for the nuclear power issue - I suggest "re-iteration" does some research and come back with an option which doesn't mean we become completely dependent on gas - because that is what you are suggesting and that aint going to address global warming. We need to find a way of dealing with all of the waist we have already from hospitals, industry and power stations so a bit more isn't going to make that much difference, besides new build nuclear power stations must be designed for easy dismantling unlike the ones we are presently dealing with. The issue is global warming - the choices are limited.
Burt from Edinburgh
I think Mike from Fife missed the percentage of people in Lewis opposed to the windfarm proposals as they stand: 50-90% AGAINST. Eorpa (成人快手2, Thursday) had a very interesting feature on renewables, and the change in perception of windfarms.
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
Mike from Fife, how would several hundred windmills (which don't require much maintenance, I understand), "stand to greatly benefit the islands' economic future"? Are you having visions of steel mills, aluminum smelters, car assembly plants following the windmills?
mjc from NM,USA
The choices to make are simple ones. We either go down the renewables route, along with reducing energy consumption or we don't. It appears the latter will happen, and this will mean one thing alone - more Nuclear plants, and a few token renewables to ease our concience. This is a cop out and very short sighted, never mind failing to address the issue of global warming and CO2 emmissions. People may say - oh well Nuclear stations won't be up here - but the simple fact is the West Highlands and Islands have already been earmarked with locations for possible new Nuclear waste dumps. One point is certain - if more nuclear stations are built then more nuclear waste is created and has to be stored until someone comes up with a solution. This would be highly toxic waste from new stations, and highly toxic waste from old stations - tonnes of it with half lives of hundreds of years. Not a sigle scientist can tell us how this stuff will behave when stored over hundreds of years - it's crazy. So, yes windmills are not the most attractive structures in the world, but given the choice of having a barren moor of windmills on Skye or a nuclear waste dump burried up here I know which option I would choosing. It's that simple.
MB from Skye
I would suggest that Edward Abbey was in his younger years a good environmentalist, he lived simply and enjoyed life on a shoestring, with relatively minor impact. This is the end is what we all need to address, using less, recycling more and developing sustainable clean energies which are already available. If more human resourcefulness was devoted to developing these energy producing systems, rather than mobile phone technology we would be getting somewhere. Thanks
Edward Abbey's name in vain from Utah no thanks
I'd like to know what convinces some people that accepting colossal windfarms in Lewis somehow exempts us from becoming a nuclear dumping ground or nuclear power station site in the near or distant future. What's with the either/or option some people come up with? "Oh yes, we must accept these windfarms or we'll get lumbered with a nuclear power station instead". How naive can you get? As for 'Mike from Fife' (yes and I'm from Iceland!), the way forward for these islands regarding renewable energy would be to completely scrap the current proposals for the West Side and Eisgein windfarms and concentrate on wave and - further down the line - tidal systems, which in themselves will justify the cost of an interconnector, and will enable the construction of smaller windfarms of sane dimensions which will entirely profit the local communities, both financially and practically, i.e. we use the power we generate instead of piping it to England to be wasted by profligate industry and government.
Jack The Kipper from Lewis
In re ply to Utah: I generally agree with your approach. My reaction to mobile phones is mixed: I refuse to have one for personal use but the cell phones have been incredibly useful in developing countries which do not have established fixed land lines infrastructure. Why: Utah no thanks? Why: Abbey's name in vain? As a minor author with two or three very nice books (Desert Solitaire as you know, but also The Last Cowboy - which is set in my backyard- etc), he deserves free plugs. The question at times is not: simply: sustainable energy or not? We have windmill farms in NM, but they are way on some desert ridge (you can see them from the plane Albuquerque-Dallas/Houston), away from population (and certainly tourist destinations such as Lewis, Flotta etc). It is with windmills as with nuclear dumps: where do you put them? By the way, no one seejms to have made any comments that the developer of the estates who wants to put windmill farms up is probably only fainted by Green sentiments (unless of course green were to refer to money, the old dollar, but not the new pound)
mjc from NM,USA
These wind farms are built in areas with a minimum average wind speed (15-25kts?) i.e. areas with adverse weather. The people in those areas have to live and cope with this weather. Their fuel bills are much higher than those in other areas .I propose that as these people are losing some of their visual amenity and possible loss of tourism, the solution would be to give the closest homes subsidised or free electricity. Something like, the nearest 100 homes per wind generator should benefit. Additional generators in the same area should then subsidise further homes. For island communities, everyone should be able to achieve free power for their homes. It annoys me that at the moment the generator manufacturers benefit. The power company and installation company benefit. The shareholders of these companies benefit. The government improves on its target for emissions etc. and therefore benefit. The landowner can get 拢10 000 per year per machine !!! However the locals get nothing except a loss. My suggestion is not a new idea. Examples; In areas with coal mining the locals involved in the business got free coal and large sums of money was retained to enhance local communities to compensate for the surface activities and extra transport problems. If you have a landfill area within 10 miles you are entitled to apply for money for local projects. In the UK so far this has amounted to several hundred million pounds. So this is not a new concept. I personally like looking at the big waving arms but if my neighbour does not then that鈥檚 not enough to make me accept them. However if him and I received free power then perhaps our collective attitude might change.
Roy from View from Arran
The point is unless we reduce energy consumption then there will have to be more generating stations. It seems to me that we either discount the Nuclear option totally (which is what I advocate) and in order to do that we must invest in renewables now, not tomorrow. This is along with energy reduction and energy efficiency schemes - there's loads that could be done, and it could happen if the will was there and our politicians stopped making excuses and took decisions. Now, if that happens then no extra nuclear plants need to be built, and so that means no new dumps. Now, while we pussy foot about the Nuclear lobby are putting up very convincing and united arguments for building 8 new Nuclear stations. If they get what they want we will need new dumps, that is a certainty. There is a good possability they will be up here - not 100% of course, but quite high I suspect. I am no great fan of windmills, but the alternative is much worse. It is also worth bearing in mind that offshore windfarms, tidal systems all have environmental effects as well, but non like the environmental effects Nuclear stations and nuclear dumps have. Now, for me it is that simple.
MB from Skye
Just to let Jack the Kipper form Lewis know I am from Fife and I have no reason to pretend otherwise. However I do agree with your idea that we need a comprehensive renewable energy policy exploring and investing in all forms (biomass, tidal etc. and not just concentrating on wind energy). Arnish suggests that betwen 50 - 90% of people in Lewis are against the proposals as they stand, not sure if this will hold up, but certainly the unholy alliance between Labours Nuclear Evangelists ("Vote Labour for Privatised Hospitals, Nuclear power and Trident 2"), and the Tory Country Alliance brigade, plus a few half-baked right wing enviromnentalists has been a potent mix and looks like it may overcome the only sane option we have: renewable energy. As for the economic question I think the local economy would benefit considerably from jobs in construction, maintenance and delivery, and that these should be built into the agreement.
Mike from Fife
MB, I also keen to keep it simple. Is it going to be gas, nuclear or the American solution: ignore kioto? Do you expect to replace coal, gas or nuclear with renewables? You surly are not suggesting all three can be replaced - but I am keen to understand more fully what you are saying so I can understand the implications.
Burt from Edinburgh
Come on the windmills, the more the merrier. I have often visited Harris and Lewis and think the centre of the islands would be enirched by these elegant structures. I think AMEC has made a mistake in its planning; what it should do is offer to pay the first 拢1000 of all electricity used per household on the island for the life of the farm; I wonder if the objectors would then still object? This windfarm offers a future for thew young people of the island and should applauded.
Jack from England
Hey Burt: as per your "the American solution: ignore Kyoto?" - would you not say that the northern and western isles could benefit from some global warming (warmer weather, would save on heating - and do away at one fell swoop with the need for those ghastly windmills). Imagine: mangoes and bananas in your backyard, guavas and lemons dangling by your window within easy reach, and no need to go to Scotland mainland to catch that plane to Alicante, Dubrovnik, Mauritius, in search of warmer climes!! I am being facetious.
mjc from NM,USA
You may wish to note that since filing this post on the 19th April, the 成人快手 have modified the report. It NO LONGER refers to the Lewis windfarms. I'm querying the reason for this.
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
It sounds like we are discussing the Coyote Protocol. Perhaps I should just start use spell checker.
Burt from Edinburgh
Quote (Jack from England) - 'I think AMEC has made a mistake in its planning; what it should do is offer to pay the first 拢1000 of all electricity used per household on the island for the life of the farm...' - Wonderful, Jack! A brilliant incentive to encourage us wasteful Hebrideans to use less energy and therefore save the planet. If AMEC throws in a free 4X4 as well, I'm sold.
Jimmy from Eilean Leodhais
Good post, Arnish. Please keep us up to date on when the windfarms are to be debated again by the council (and whether the public will be allowed access to these debates?) I'd be very interested to hear what - if anything - has changed in CNES's attitude since the fiasco last summer.
Donald from Lewis
Windylights on Brinkies Brae would add to the scenery and turbines in the Churchill Barriers could be made to work. I think we are becoming obsessed with scenic purity to the detriment of our future existence. Nimbyism has gone too far. Let's stop fiddling while Rome burns. "We need to find a way of dealing with all the waist we have already"........does Burt from Edinburgh have a weight issue? I know a good diet............
Flying Cat from dazed and confused on Burger Hill
As I mentioned above, the newsstory on which I based this post no longer contains a reference to Lewis. 成人快手 News Watch emailed me back to give the following explanation: "The reference to Lewis was contained in an early version of the story. When the story was updated later in the day and more detail about the proposals for wind turbines in the Highlands was added in, the reference to Lewis was deleted in order to keep the story within our word count guidelines."
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
Hi Jimmy from E.L., about that free 4x4: make that a Hummer will you. Your (long lost) cousins from across the Atlantic would be delighted to ship them to you. We can't afford the gasoline any more (and we need the export revenues). Yeah, maybe if Mr. N.O. would provide each inhabitant of the Isles with a Hummer and the gasoline for the lifetime of the guzzlers, the local folks might reconsider. Imagine those vehicles going up and down, "cruising" past the ferry in Lewis on Sunday. The Churches/ Chapels etc. may have to invest in new parking lots (courtesy of Mr. N.O. again?).
mjc from NM,USA
Trust me, you don't want these monsters. There are thousands of them around Vienna now, with all the huge pylons required to transport the power. They are very, very big, need to be lit up at night for aircraft, and much more of an eyesore than you would expect.
Graeme from Vienna
Indeed, Graeme - the night-lighting is something that isn't mentioned very often (wonder why?), but for purposes of aircraft safety, it's a legal requirement in the UK that all free-standing structures over 300 feet high MUST be lit at night, which would include of course all the north lewis and eisgen turbines, being 455 feet & 405 feet high respectively. The night sky may soon be a distant memory...
Jimmy from Eilean Leodhais
Yeah there'll be no more nightime if we have some windmills. Have you ever heard such rubbish? I think the people opposing renewable energy schemes need to come up with some alternatives. Of those opposing can you state whether you a) don't think climate chaos is a real problem b) think nuclear is the solution or c) want renewable energy but just as long as its not near you.
Mike from Fife
Mike, There is a fourth option: diversify within renewables, don't stick to just the one option (windturbines). There is wavepower, tidal power, solar power...
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
Mike from Fife: "climate chaos"? Unbutton that shirt collar Mike, and loosen the tie. Renewable energy? Every morning I wake up and wonder where to find it. How many of those windmill monsters do you have in the Kingdom of Fife, Mike? I did not see any last year when my wife and I drove through.
mjc from NM,USA
'Windmills', Mike? Very romantic. I thought we were talking about circa 25 miles of gigantic commercial wind turbines a mile from peoples' homes. "Yeah there'll be no more night-time if we have some windmills..." Who said that? I certainly didn't. 'Climate chaos' is a new one on me, never heard of it. Sounds a bit 'Brian Wilson' to me, and thinking that constructing a windfarm even on this scale is going to make the slightest jot of difference to global warming - sorry - climate chaos, really is alarming. As for alternatives to LARGE onshore windfarms, a quick look elsewhere on this blog and others, might give you some ideas, such as wave and tidal systems, not wasting energy in the first place, cutting back on the 'car culture' and cheap flights (the last two are nigh on impossible, I suspect). I do not believe for a moment that these measures, separately or together, will make one iota of reduction in global warming, which will only increase in years to come - China is currently finishing a new coal-fired power station every four days. Assuming you are writing from Fife, Mike, are you familiar with the locations of these turbines relative to the villages, and the scale of the impact on the landscape? Have you read any of the planning application documents for these windfarms? Perhaps you would better spend your time fighting 'climate chaos' by protesting against the new terminal being constructed at Heathrow, which will see a throughput of an EXTRA 30 million passengers a year...and how many tonnes of greenhouse gases will have been pumped into the atmosphere by the time the terminal is finished in 2008? Sensibly-scaled renewables projects are an excellent idea for generating (relatively) clean power to use near the source of generation, but let's not get carried away into thinking that even monstrous windfarms like Amec's will actually make any difference at all to slowing global warming. Ditto for nuclear.
Jimmy from Eilean Leodhais
p.s. I see now that Amec have scaled back their proposal yet again - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/4950276.stm - no doubt a last-ditch attempt to sway the ministers in the central belt into approving it.
Jimmy from Eilean Leodhais
Hi Folks. Arnish I'm very keen to diversify within renewables, I agree, don't stick to just wind energy. You say: "There is wavepower, tidal power, solar power... " Yes there is, lets do that too, that's part of the mix, my argument is yuo should stop opposing renewables where it affects you. MJC - not enough renewables in Fife that's true, working on it for my own house and would welcome them here too. Shirt unbuttoned, tie unloosened. Gosh, its warm for this time of years isnt it? and Jimmy...hullo. Yes I am from Fife but yes I have been to Lewis many times and know the plans and geography well. Unfortunately your problem is also my problem as is the Chinese and the Americans. Climate Chaos is a better term for what's happening than global warming which has been abused and is frequently run with little sunny graphics in the media, it has a pleasing ring to it. I'm absolutely behind you in your call for reduction in car use, wave and tidal energy schems, the lot, bring it on. We need a massive public response to climate chaos and all these things are good and will play a part. But you know what? The first thing people need to do is not oppose the only renewable project they come into contact with...
Mike from Fife
I cant beleive that I am one of the few that finds wind farms to be absolutely beautiful. The fact that they are harnessing natures resources and producing a valuable benefit to this country is a huge plus. We should rejoice that we have the ability to make low cost, clean power
Graham Lunn from Yorkshire
I have been in Lewis since late 2004 and am observing life on this fascinating island from an outsider's perspective. I look out at the lighthouse every day - as it looks out over the island and the sea. 
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