Community Windfarms
Posted: Wednesday, 23 June 2004 |
Comments
I think a lot of the problem is over the question of scale. Two or three turbines are a lot more acceptable than thirty! I wonder where you buy 2nd hand windmills from, and why they're for sale?
Cheers
Gary
Mr Guinness from Tobermory
An ambition to turn Scotland into a windfarm for supplying England seems to have been a very honest statement by ex-U.K. energy ministers (Brian Wilson, while addressing the Highland Council on 15th November 2002) and now the financial incentives are now in place. In June 2003 The GB Transmission Issues Working Group discussed the 6 Gigawatt grid provision purely to carry the renewable energy, which will be produced in Scotland. Clearly the number of windfarms is expected to be huge. As to the individual developments, that seems to be left up to speculators whose concern in the whole appears to be profit. So what is the outcome of all of this planning? Some of the most precious landscapes in Scotland are being targeted because of their small populations and large estates. Communities such as Ardnamurchan have been forced to spend a lot of time and money opposing a potential act of gross vandalism. Is it really the Scottish Executives intention to test the resolve of small communities to turn down large amounts of money?
Regarding Gigha. Three wind turbines 45 metres tall installed on Gigha in a totally community-owned project. I say good luck to them regardless of the concern I have for the accumulative practicality of wind farms. Perhaps we could ask the community of Gigha if they feel the situation faced by Mull Ardnamurchan and Morvern and indeed the rest of Scotland is at all similar to theirs? Were the people of Gigha only offered the choice between running a community project or have the landowner invite in a very large wind farm developer? Would the folk of Gigha surgest places like Mull address this issue on an island wide basis or should decision and benefits be heaped on a just a small part of the community? The whole community on Gigha appears to have been involved in the planning of these 3 turbines. They have decided on the size, number, location, who benefits and where is the least damaging site for the turbines. That seems like a better policy for Scotland than what we are getting at present.
pondhead from Mull
Community owned windfarm development must be the way forward. The community itself can then decide on what size is appropriate. The revenue generated can then help ensure fragile communities have a future not entirely based on retirement and holiday home ownership.
WeeDobie from Mull
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