Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

Aaaaaand relax.

 

What's that I smell?

 

Vindication?

 

Victory?

 

Viking!

 

Nope, 1984.

[Ghostrider]

Aaaaaand relax.

 

What's that I smell?

 

The overheating brains of Law Lords as a result of being baffled with bovine

excrement?

Edited February 9, 2015 by Ghostrider

[Davie P]

I'm not sure this letter from Cllr Wills helps http://www.shetnews.co.uk/letters/10134-end-of-story

[Urabug]

With all the advancements in technology in the past 50yrs,it would have made more sense to go nuclear.

 

Look at the improvements in our cars,TV's,aviation ect,ect.

 

Man learns from his mistakes so they say, a modern nuclear power station surely would have been better than the hills covered in wind turbines.  

 

The point now is will wis Shetlanders,get any of the jobs to build them or will it go out the south mouth to "foreign" contractors!   

[mogling]

Fair do's, we tried.

 

It could save a lot of faffing about wi creating 12 new quarries, reinforcing & widening roads & piers, excavating millions of tonnes of peat, sinking in millions of tonnes of concrete etc. if we just built a nuclear power station at the off.

 

Sir James 'Gaia Theory" Lovelock, Royal Society, said in his BBC Hardtalk interview back in 2008 that wind power doesn't work, and that the only way to go was to build nuclear power stations. He claimed that nuclear was safe enough.

 

Who was it that said: "The one way to guarantee nuclear, is to build windmills."?

 

 

{I found my recording of the Stephen Sackur interview at last, if anyone would like a copy on DVD?}

[Ghostrider]

Not all that many years ago somebody had a plan to create a "super quarry" in the North Mainland, now I'm not arguing that it wouldn't have been a blot on the landscape and, as locals said in their objections, a damned nusiance for dust and the additional heavy traffic it would create on the roads. However, to the best of my recollection it was an investment that wasn't asking to suck up a worrying pile of public funds as a start up investment, it would have been earning almost from the get go, it would have provided permanent local employment and the negative aesthetics, dust and traffic nusiance would have being very localised.

 

In their wisdom, and to the delight of the detractors, our great leaders of the day threw it out, again to the best of my recollection, on the above loss of visual amenity and nusiance grounds for those folk in its immediate locality.

 

Fast forward a few years, and we now have a plan that will heavily impact on visual amenity on a vastly greater area, as long term as a quarry, will tie up and put at risk a worrying figure of public funds, will provide little different permanent local employment than the quarry would have, will generate a significant additional amount of heavy, and heavy nusiance traffic for several years, and won't return a penny for at least the next five years, and our elder statesmen and women now not only seem to think its the preferable option to the quarry proposal, by if not actively backing it, allowing it to trundle on without a murmur.

 

How can that which was so bad for so few only a few years ago, now when increased greatly in size and cost, and had a few more negative aspects added, be supposed to have become so acceptable to so many?

 

Oh yes, the quarry wasn't conceived by the SIC, so to them it was "nothing". This beast was, and of course the SIC must look after its baby at all costs, as corporate pride dictates that the council machine must never be wrong, to the point corporate insanity kicks in. As we saw with the (non) Bressa Brig.

 

I'm with the previous posters, I'd rather have nuclear, at least with that the output is reasonably consistent and predictable so might just about manage to cover its own ass and turn a few quid profit.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Ghostrider

[as]

maybe because VE was a done deal from the word go? That's (along with something akin to have been sold down the river) how it feels to me anyway.

 

I am not a member of Sustainable Shetland, but could somebody in the know please point me into the direction of their fundraising. I reckon they fought for all of us and I'd like to contribute towards clearing the outstanding fees.

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

maybe because VE was a done deal from the word go? That's (along with something akin to have been sold down the river) how it feels to me anyway.

 

I am not a member of Sustainable Shetland, but could somebody in the know please point me into the direction of their fundraising. I reckon they fought for all of us and I'd like to contribute towards clearing the outstanding fees.

 

There's a donate button on the left-hand side of the page:

 

http://www.sustainableshetland.org/economics/index.htm

[as]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-18422752

[MuckleJoannie]

Another two online articles

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-31295116

 

 

 

A group of land and heritage bodies has joined forces to attack the Scottish government's wind farm policy.

The rural alliance, including the National Trust for Scotland and Ramblers Scotland, accused ministers of ignoring their own advisers to back controversial large-scale developments.

They said the government had failed to ensure plans are open to "proper and democratic scrutiny".

The group called for public inquiries over the use of wild areas.

In an open letter, the alliance said the government approved "colossal" developments at Stonelairg in the Monadhliath Mountains and offshore - straddling the firths of Forth and Tay - "in the face of evidence and objections".

In both cases, it said ministers chose to ignore advice from Scottish Natural Heritage - the government's own expert advisers.

 And

 

http://www.carricktoday.co.uk/news/local-headlines/windfarm-operators-paid-as-turbines-power-off-1-3667838

 

 

 

Windfarm operators in the Carrick area have been paid almost £900,000 this year to power down due to extreme wind.

Power firms qualify for the so-called constraint payments when wind farms are switched off when it is too windy.

And the operators of the Hadyard Hill, Arecleoch and Mark Hill windfarms have been making huge sums as a result of the bad weather.

[JustMe]

It is my carefully considered opinion that SSE need to convince me that they are capable of running the supply of electricity in Shetland before I would consider them fit to run a huge wind farm.  At least two long and two short power cuts for me this year (just one weather related) and the vast number of cuts I suffered last year convince me that they are not fit and proper people to run the wind farm.  But please note this is not a criticism of the guys that go out in all weathers to repair faults.  Just the infrastructure that means there are so many faults.

[merkin]

maybe because VE was a done deal from the word go? That's (along with something akin to have been sold down the river) how it feels to me anyway.

 

I am not a member of Sustainable Shetland, but could somebody in the know please point me into the direction of their fundraising. I reckon they fought for all of us and I'd like to contribute towards clearing the outstanding fees.

 

Obviously it was a done deal!

Why do you think that:

1. The Shetland Public were denied any sort of vote in the matter.
2. The Busta House agreement is carefully hidden from public view. - I wonder how many CT Trustees have been allowed to read it??

[as]

^ exactly. I don't trust them. Never have, never will. The whole thing stinks to high heaven. I don't believe all the spin for a single moment and it takes more to convince me than waving  £ signs and the promises of riches.

[Kavi Ugl]

Well, I heard a rumour(I know, I know) that the laying of the huge inter-connector cable, and the spare capacity on it, opens the door to the building of a Nuclear Plant in Shetland.

 

And being built in "The Shetlands" it would also be away from the main areas of the UK population.  And off course, less oppostion to fight.

 

The horrible truth is there might be a LOT more to this than we can even imagine......

Edited February 10, 2015 by Kavi Ugl

[paulb]

i think we will be hearing about the cable in the near future.they are interdependent so at some point it will need to be built. so im expecting news shortly. of course its been a done deal from the start. welcome to the honest world of shetland politics. its been the same since the first oil deal. we sold our soul to big business. ask why we are not recieving any oil money. no one  has asked about the gas deal just remember who agreed that one. if SS want to fight on find a way to take control of the charity trust. get it to be a real charity. not a bank for the SIC. look at alaska for what we should be doing