Graham Lang, Chair of Scotland Against Spin and Fife resident said:
“Now that the turbine is up we can only imagine what it will be like when the blades start turning and we wonder how long before the people of Methil, who are unwitting guinea pigs in developing this offshore turbine in close proximity to houses, start to notice the noise and visual destruction of their amenity.
“Complaints are inevitable and no amount of noise monitoring by the developer will alter the fact the the turbine is too big and too close to the folk of Methil. Technically offshore, this experimental turbine is in fact only a few hundred metres from hundreds of homes, a nursery, a school and a hospital.
“A lot of local pain for scant gain, if any, in local jobs and huge expense for ordinary UK tax payers and consumers.
“A 200% subsidy will top up every ounce of electricity the turbine produces, with electricity consumers across the UK funding it via their electricity bills.
“On top of that, the project has already trousered £6m in the form of Scottish Government grants. Nor did it have to pay for the planning application as Scottish Enterprise picked up the tab for that.
“Blades from Denmark, tower from China, nacelle from Korea and the only bits maufactured in Scotland were made in Paisley and floated round to Methil when they could have been made 400 meters away at Burntisland Fabricators. Oh yes, and an Irish main installation contractor.”
Linda Holt of Scotland Against Spin commented:
“The Audit Scotland Report revealed Alex Salmond’s renewables strategy as a busted flush. Offshore wind development in Scotland is a dead duck – we have one operational and one consented offshore wind farm whereas England and Wales have nigh on 20. Challenging physical conditions make offshore development and maintenance much more expensive than down south.
If investors haven’t committed themselves as they were expected to in the last six years, they are hardly going to do so now when consumers are squealing about wind subsidies ratcheting up bills and the Government has plumped for nuclear energy to secure reliable baseload generation.
Alex Salmond is desperate to save his offshore wind strategy, or at least to save face until the referendum.
But throwing millions at foreign companies like Samsung at Methil and Siemens at Hunterstone will not kick-start an offshore wind industry which needs a much bigger and more secure subsidy from the UK Government than is presently on offer.
Nor will this political vanity project offer any consolation, let alone compensation, to hapless Fifers who have been forced to play guinea pig in this desperate experiment.”
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