News Elsewhere contains mainly articles we have permission to republish from Views of Scotland and Country Guardian. You can learn more about these organisations by visiting: http://www.countryguardian.net/ and http://www.viewsofscotland.org/. Occasionally we will also post news from elsewhere on the web.
Scottish ministers have been called to intervene in a wind farm row and order a public inquiry amid what campaigners have described as an “escalating crisis of confidence in the energy consents system”. Communities in the Borders have been anticipating a public hearing on the Ditcher Law wind farm, about Read more
The online meeting of the DPEA Stakeholder Forum was held yesterday (16 December). Aileen Jackson and Rachel Connor represented Scotland Against Spin. The main points of the meeting are summarised in the attached document (below) taken from Rachel and Aileen’s notes. We will post the official minutes of the meeting Read more
BRITAIN recorded a new wind output record earlier this month while Viking, as well as a number of other large wind farms, collected constraint payments for standing idle. On Friday 5 December between 5.30pm and 6pm, a new record of 23,825 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity fed energy into the Read more
A beauty spot in the Highlands could soon be surrounded by over 200 “mega” wind turbines as tall as Arthur’s Seat. Energy giants are hoping to build 231 wind turbines in the Kyle of Sutherland, which would leave residents in villages such as Rosehall, Altass and Brae surrounded by giant Read more
A planning application to build a nine-turbine wind farm near a Ross-shire village has been met with an objection from the Highland Council. The local authority has lodged its opposition to the proposed Carn Fearna wind farm, to be situated near Garve. A letter detailing the local authority’s response notes Read more
Slowing the pace of net zero could save the British economy £350bn, an official report has concluded. A new analysis published by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said that aiming for an 80pc reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, rather than the current “net zero” target, could save £14bn Read more
The First Minister was accused of producing a ‘fact-free’ document through his insistence that Scotland would produce so much renewable energy that bills would be cheaper if the UK was broken up. https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/john-swinney-humiliated-energy-bills-36375509?fbclid=IwY2xjawOmGgNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETA0QjExV0ZZSkxCY0pienNxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHrkcvpWz-2o9TL6akPU-ILs0aIYvCtf31q0qVtk7sqFNaDZ2gsbF5xbz_ySS_aem_I3aSIIjLIGICYLnlWAaERA
In their announcement today on prioritising the grid queue, NESO, the National Energy System Operator, announced a moratorium on battery storage. https://aprs.scot/news/neso-issues-a-moratorium-on-battery-storage/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOor_9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEey_fF0U3R1Z2O4XniQE9ccGFLLsj0XrtDjbiIhSvje44oND0DhdzamBloMbA_aem_qXIWO-TFdz3kBTyQ7gWsuQ