During this long cold spell, i imagine folk will be using more electricity as they try to stay warm.
According to an expert i've just listened to on BBC News 24, windpower is contributing only 1% to the national grid at the moment. Although it has been subzero in places for 3 weeks, there has been no wind.
So just when the extra power is needed, windpower can't deliver.

The result of the Beauly/Denny powerline enquiry is being announced in the Scottish parliament today. I think we'll find that will confirm the Scottish Governments desire to turn Scotland into a mass industrial site of turbines, spinning or not. Perhaps the attention of campaigners like myself has to turn to the question of what prime sites of landscape need most protection from the developers - a kind of campaign for turbine free zones. I may be premature but I think this day will herald the end of wild land in Scotland as we have known it. A black, black day indeed.

"Perhaps the attention of campaigners like myself has to turn to the question of what prime sites of landscape need most protection from the developers - a kind of campaign for turbine free zones."


Yes you should. I thought I'd never hear you say it, and yet it makes so much sense. I know it's an unfortunate compromise, but better a planned compromise than an arbitrary scattering of windfarms throughout the country. I've always (well, for five or six years) said draw a 5 or 10 km boundary around already protected areas, this covers a surprisingly large area, and the area is in a few large "islands" rather than the same area scattered over many small islands. This is important as windfarms are visible from great distances. Also, because it's simply an enhancement of existing rules to cope with a new threat it's a very strong position to defend.

Maybe a 5 or 10km boundary is to simplistic, perhaps it could be something like height of structure is proportional to distance away from protected area, but the point is to draw a line and create a position that can realistically be defended.

John

The big problem is that the Scottish Government has trashed SSSI's (Trump) and now it is going to trash a National Park (the Cairngorms). It has absolutely no respect for landscape or conservation designation. We can expect anything from this shower. The minister says he has asked the power companies to mitigate the environmental damage of the power line. How the hell can you mitigate the effect of a bloody pylon that's over 60 metres tall - never mind 600 of the bloody things?

I'll keep fighting, like Don f******Quixote.

Presumably it was more difficult getting permission in the national park than outside the national park. I don't think it's true to say Scottish Government have "absolutely no respect for landscape or conservation designation", the decision just shows the scale of the problem you're up against - we live in a culture which values energy supply above just about all else. Think about other lengths we have gone to to secure energy - how many people have died securing our oil supply? I hate it and live a very low energy lifestyle, but I'm under no illusion about the culture I live in.

You're correct to a certain extent JH but that doesn't explain why Scotland's First Minister intervened in a local council planning application to turn a designated SSSI on the Aberdeenshire coast into a luxury golf course and housing development. Add to that the current government go ahead despite 18000 written objections, plus objections from four councils and the board of the Cairngorm National Park and I think you might excuse me for suggesting this Scottish government has little regard for landscape and conservation designations. I agree fully with you about the shit culture we live in.

Apparently, 'devolution for Scotland was justified on the basis that it made government more responsive to the people of Scotland'.
18,000 objections out of a population of 5 million, is a pretty poor objection in my book.
I think that your government sees temporary job creation as votes in future elections.
Thatcher instilled this, 'I'm alright Jack/want it at any cost' attitude,throughout Britain.
Not being defeatist about the energy issue, but, as the striking miners found to their cost, as long as most people are happy,its f--k the rest.

This objection, including three councils and the National Park Board was the biggest objection to any proposal in Scotland. You can't work objections by the percentage of the population. And 18000 votes is enough to topple this minority government.
However, I agree with you that temporary jobs, even though many of them will be filled by folk from overseas, is a strong argument.

Sorry Cameron, I wasn't intending to mock the efforts of the campaigners.
Generally, people will only listen when hit in the pocket.

Does anyone know which power companies are not building windfarms in such locations? Surely some of their directors are countryside enthusiasts?


People who were opposed to such despoilation,could vote with their feet, letting the energy company know the reason why.

The government has also given the go ahead to two new offshore windfarms one on the firth of forth and on on the Moray firth these will provide a greater amount of electricity available from renewables.