AT last a discussion is opening up about the spinning of information by the
Scottish Government in its fanatical support of the heavily subsidised
renewables industry (Letters, December 16). This is economics of the worst
kind, transferring money from the poor to the very rich promoting a
low-carbon generation mirage. The phrase The Emperor’s New Clothes comes to
mind.
In reality, without subsidies, wind farms are uneconomical; the phrase
“free electricity” is anything but. The report by engineers from Edinburgh
University concentrated on the carbon savings using figures from the
National Grid, interesting and welcome, but as your correspondent Lyndsey
Ward pointed out, the figures did not include the real issues, which are
both economic and social. As a society we thrive based on our efficiency
and competitiveness, but we are heavily subsidising an industry that does
not provide the low-carbon electricity it is charged to do.
Not only are we subsidising the building of wind farms, we are paying wind
farms to switch off when it’s very windy by way of constraint payments.
Would it not be better to stop all subsidies completely for wind farms,
accept the existing farms as part of the renewables mix towards a low
carbon economy, and use their output without incurring additional
subsidies? As an example, a successful two-year trial of the largest
grid-scale battery has recently been completed in Leighton Buzzard. This
“big battery”, up to 10MW storage, has proved its potential to transform
the energy grid, storing energy when the demand is low and releasing it at
peak times. By diverting constraint payments to the building of grid-sized
battery support systems for existing large wind farms, would this not go
some way to effectively utilise the energy they do produce, and make an
attempt to stop this continual transfer of money to the rich.
Graham Brooks,
Ferry Row, Fairlie, North Ayrshire.
0 Comments