Wind farm pledge

Published 16 Sep 2010 09:26 1 Comment

LOCAL authority environment chief Barry Turner has moved to reassure residents in the Oldhamstocks area that everything possible will be done to minimise the impact of a controversial wind farm extension in the eastern Lammermuirs.

On Tuesday, East Lothian Council’s cabinet agreed to inform the Scottish Government that it does not object to a change in the planning application by Community Windpower Ltd to reduce the number of turbines being proposed at Aikengall II/Wester Dod from 30 to 22.

The original application to the government in 2009 - featuring 22 turbines sited in East Lothian and eight in the Scottish Borders - was accepted without objections (but with conditions) by East Lothian Council, but rejected by Scottish Borders Council.

The energy company responded by dropping the eight Borders turbines from its application, prompting campaigners opposed to the extension to accuse it of trying to avoid a public inquiry.

Councillor Turner told Tuesday’s meeting: “We do not plan to oppose the revised application as it does not change the basic circumstances of locating 22 turbines at Wester Dod [Aikengall II].

“We have already advised the government of the conditions we hope will be accepted before the scheme is allowed to go ahead. These include such things as provision for decommissioning, a construction method statement, design and other basic planning issues.

“We have also emphasised that the turbines must be located so as to have minimum visual impact on Oldhamstocks Conservation Area, as well as two additional conditions about noise control which are required by the council’s environmental protection manager.”

The two extra conditions are that the turbine closest to Upper Monynut is removed from the scheme, or failing this, the turbine must have noise control measures installed.

The second is that prior to construction an assessment of the cumulative noise impact on Upper Monynut of the 22 new turbines and the existing turbines at Crystal Rig and Aikengall be carried out and approved by environmental protection officers.

The new turbines - to be situated close to already operational Aikengall Community Windfarm’s 16 turbines - will have a hub height of up to 85 metres and a rotor diameter of 120 metres, giving a total height of up to 145 metres or 478.5 feet.

Mr Turner added: “If approved, this would make a major contribution in the transfer from electricity and nuclear-based energy to renewables. It reinforces East Lothian’s position as the powerhouse of Scotland.”

The Scottish Government will rule on whether to proceed with the application.

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• 

  Vindblaff
  8 posts
  Oct 18, 04:08
  Report comment

  Mr Turner reverals his stupendous ignorance about wind power generation. Nuclear power is base-load power and wind will not substitute for it. The most pro-wind report to date, which is invariably referenced by the BWEA, Greenpeace and FOE, states: "It would be unrealistic to assume that wind energy would displace any nuclear capacity," ('Wind Power in the UK', Sustainable Development Commission. p35).
  
  All that wind will do is massively increase electricity bills to pay the 100% Renewables Obligation subsidy: according to Ofgem, the privately owned company running Aikengall, the laughably named 'Community Windpower', received 148,643 ROC's in 2009/10 which were worth £6.76 million at average 28 Sept. 2010 auction prices.
  
  Repeat: in one year, you, the electricity consumer, paid a subsidy of over £6 million for a small amount (148,643 MWh) of intermittent and erratic power production from 16 wind turbines.
  
  As Professor Sir David King, government chief scientific advisor 2002-2007, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, noted:
  
  "We can’t rely too heavily on wind because it always requires a gas-fired turbine to be able to be switched on to provide alternative energy," (The Guardian. 28 June, 2010.).
  
  By comparison, Torness produced 9,550,000 MWh of near carbon free electricity in 2009/10. It did this without subsidies, and provided over 500 jobs to boot.
  
  No doubt Mr Turner looks forward to losing over 500 jobs if Torness closes down.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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