APPLICATIONS for onshore wind farms and other renewable energy projects have been causing concern in the county.

It’s not simply the visual impact but both the construction phase and future operation have implications for traffic and other aspects of community life.

On that basis, the establishment of a new organisation to oversee electricity supply should be welcome. In some ways, the newly formed Electricity Supply Operator (ESO) is some progress. It’s still a private entity and is operated by the National Grid PLC largely owned by foreign investors. But at least it offers some possibility of getting some co-ordination.

There are many parts of East Lothian where construction would be welcome or at least uncontroversial. But they have largely been ignored. There is similarly the fact that we’re allowing more onshore sites when we can’t even use what we’ve currently got. Some 17 per cent of onshore wind turbines are switched off annually as there’s no capacity to get their energy onto the National Grid. Compounding that, the commencement of offshore wind, where its capacity will dwarf onshore, is beginning, changing the renewable energy dynamics and mitigating against onshore.

However, I’m not sure that ESO is going to address the problem and could raise other matters of concern. That’s because their strategic plan is basically to move the energy from where it’s produced to where they wish it supplied. That means from Scotland, where we have huge resources on and offshore, to down south. There’s logic to that but where’s the revenue for us from what we provide, let alone the cheap energy that should follow, and the jobs and businesses that should be following?

There is also to be an onshore link from Scotland’s northeast down our coast and then through the Borders to Merseyside. That will be by huge pylons. We get the visual impact, but neither revenue nor jobs. It’s perverse to be an energy-rich nation and yet have people facing fuel poverty.