Wind farms do lasting damage to countryside

The Westminster government and Scottish Executive have both decided that wind-generated electricity is a good thing and a likely vote-winner, despite ex-tensive negative experience in places such as Denmark.

The unpalatable truth from there is that wind power produces unreliable and expensive electricity, with little or no overall reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. What is more serious, however, is the damage that will be done to vast areas of unspoilt countryside, especially in Scotland.

The base needed to support a large turbine requires about 1,000 tonnes of reinforced concrete. Huge road networks are also needed to erect and service the turbines.

Once the bases and roads are built, they will never be removed; there are not even plans to remove them.

The damage to the countryside is, therefore, irrevocable. Is this really what we want to do with the few areas of wild country we have left?

(PROF) JOHN TRINICK Leeds University

(PROF) PER BULLOUGH

Sheffield University

c/o Queen’s Drive Lane

Ilkley, Yorkshire

I am glad Professor David Bellamy has asked further questions of Scottish Renewables. The information on how long it takes a wind farm to "pay back" the carbon dioxide used in its construction (three to five months) is a generally ac-cepted figure in the industry.

Wind farms will not form the base load for electricity production in this country, so the lights will not go out due to a lack of wind, but they will be an important part of a diverse and secure electricity supply contributing to cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.

Oil and gas will probably run out this century, coal may have a bit longer to go but the wind will keep on blowing. As a sustainable and renewable source of energy, it is vital to the future of this planet.

JASON ORMISTON

Senior wind energy officer

Scottish Renewables

St Vincent Street

Glasgow

Jason Ormiston should know better. His comparison of the efficiency of wind farms at 33 per cent, with hydroelectric at 39 per cent and nuclear at up to 75 per cent is not comparing like with like. By political fiat, wind energy is automatically purchased, therefore the 33 per cent figure is the amount they can produce depending on how windy it is.

This policy of total purchase has led the Danes to buy wind electricity during the small off-peak hours and then feed it into the German grid without payment, since neither nation actually has a use for it at the time.

The other figures are for the amount of what is offered that the grid chooses to accept, depending on demand and marginal price. This leads to an unfair comparison with hydro, where water behind a dam rarely disappears but can be kept for use at the best time.

Hydro can be turned on and off in seconds, and the fact that nuclear has such high usage shows how competitive its marginal cost is.

NEIL CRAIG

Woodlands Drive

Glasgow

The report on wind farms to Highland Council by IPA Wind Energy and Brodies focuses solely on the cash benefits. When will we see, and act on, balanced arguments on both benefits and drawbacks?

The report says the main driver is political commitment to green energy and skirts round the even more powerful motive of huge profits for developers and land owners.

ROB THOMPSON

Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan

Inverness-shire