Letter: ‘Green’ wind turbines fuelling future red alert

Published on 01/04/2012 00:00

IS ANYONE in the wind energy industry prepared to give the public a satisfactory explanation of precisely what will happen to wind turbines at the end of their expected life-span, which may be as long as 25 years, or more likely, considerably less?

Wind energy companies state that turbines will either be de-commissioned or re-commissioned, the huge concrete bases upon which the turbines stand will remain in situ and be covered over so that farming can be resumed across the site but no-one has yet explained exactly what will happen to the enormous blades once the machines have been removed. Where will these blades go?

They are manufactured from less than green materials, including carbon fibre and resins which are extremely difficult to recycle, so how do the developers propose to deal with what will rapidly become a serious disposal problem?

Blades cannot go into landfill. Burning will create serious toxic pollution. The country will be left with an ever-growing mountain of hazardous waste. And the wind industry is being sold to the public as being green and environmentally friendly.

Before another wind turbine is erected in Scotland, serious questions have to be asked by our MSPs, MPs and MEPs. They must look further ahead than the next few years or there will be a pollution problem of enormous proportion facing Scotland, with no viable solution. There has to be a moratorium on erecting more wind farms until full, detailed, sensible and believable answers to this serious problem have been provided.

PM Powell, Forfar