CLAIRE Mack, the CEO of Scottish Renewables, was quick out of the blocks
lobbying for more onshore wind development for the paying members of her
trade association, just as her predecessor did before her (Letters,
December 20). Sadly times don’t change with new leadership and the same old
spin and propaganda flies out across the media just as it always has with
not one compassionate word about the people who actually have to live in
the shadow of these industrial monsters.
The displaced carbon figures she quotes are wildly exaggerated as pollution
overseas for turbine materials and the often-destructive grid connection
are not factored in to the calculations.
I would dearly love to see a complete breakdown of those 7,500 jobs in
onshore wind she enthuses about. I suspect many are short-lived and I
suspect many are not Scottish workers as I know of, and have spoken to,
workers from overseas who are bought in during the construction phase.
After that where are the jobs?
Scotland is full to bursting as far as onshore wind is concerned. Too many
precious landscapes and communities have been devastated by development
already. Constraint payments in Scotland are off the acceptable scale, with
hundreds of millions of pounds being paid out to operators to switch off
and more turbines will mean more UK consumer costs and more fuel poverty.
Who are these 74 per cent who support more onshore wind? Not those in
affected communities because they are never asked what they want. There is
no community veto in Scotland like there is in England because, I suspect,
the Scottish Government and its energy “advisors” Scottish Renewables know
most wind proposals would be kicked into touch before they hit our
beleaguered planning departments if there was.
If Ms Mack truly cared about rural residents she would lobby her friends in
government for the fair community veto. That way future development would
only proceed where it is wanted and not foisted on communities that are
sick and tired of being ignored and having their voices dismissed as
irrelevant in the wind biased planning process she so admires.
Lyndsey Ward,
Darach Brae, Beauly.
IT is worth noting once again the miserable failure of renewables
technology to actually provide power when we need it.
On reading Claire Mack’s letter at 16.03 pm today (December 20) UK-wide
wind, pumped storage, hydro and solar were generating 3.98 per cent,1.17
per cent,1.75 per cent, and 0.18 per cent of our needs. A total of 7.08 per
cent.
Gas and recently restarted UK coal stations were having to produce 54 per
cent and 17.5 per cent of our needs. Power imports from Europe were
virtually zero.
This unavoidable and permanently required back-up is where the real cost of
renewables generation lies and not in the falling bid prices for future
wind generation.
The renewables lobby totally and consistently ignores this reality.
In addition, the continuing and increasing back-up required from these old
fossil stations renders them more essential with every planning consent to
increase wind penetration and many are approaching decrepitude.
We continue to pursue renewable technologies that will not consistently
work at the macro power grid level and for many serious technical reasons
in addition to intermittency.
We had better change this, and soon.
DB Watson,
Saviskaill, Langdales Avenue, Cumbernauld.
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