Wind revenue

Published on 31/08/2012 00:00

One way of ensuring that nobody loses out completely on the siting of wind turbines is to ensure that all dwellings within a certain footprint of the turbine would share a percentage of the revenue, say, 50 per cent shared between all those affected.

The footprint would be determined by a ratio to the height of the installation, say 10, so a 100-metre turbine would have a footprint radius of 1,000 metres.

The level of compensation would vary in proportion to the distance from the tower.

If, in a multiple installation, several footprints overlapped, then any dwelling within this area would receive a payment from each turbine involved.

This would concentrate the minds of those responsible for planning an installation, 
especially a multiple one, and in the case of an individual 
installation, such as a farm where the power generated would be mainly for own use, would encourage the owner 
to site it closer to his own home rather than at the edge of the property and so closer to 
others.

In this case, the owner’s own dwelling would count among the beneficiaries of the compensatory share so would, in most cases, receive most, if not all, of the revenue.

Peter Kent

Meikle Wartle

Aberdeenshire

While I fully endorse Clark Cross’s letter about wind electricity (30 August), he is grossly mistaken in his final paragraph when he urges politicians to admit that they were wrong in promoting the concept.

There is more chance of Scotland voting for independence in 2014 than the smug Alex Salmond admitting that he has been wrong for so long.

Archie Blair

Riverside Park

Blairgowrie