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Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy


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The recent C4 documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle" made some very interesting points. It clearly questioned something now accepted as scientific fact by Governments, citizens and Councils alike , namely Global warming being the cause of rising sea levels and chaotic weather etc. The programme identified that many scientists think that this may have nothing to do with man-made carbon dioxide emissions. Which is behing the drive for windpower.

 

Well, clanchief, that's probably the most interesting point in the whole debate! There is for sure "some kind of human impact", but that is the difference between a foreseeable rising of the sealevel of some 1.8m or 2.1m as some researches are discussing. My concern is a more basical - especially with regard for some European areas in the first case (Shetland, Orkney or the islands on the German or Dutch coast) but with no lesser concern about the future of some island communities in the Indic or Pacific Osean like the Maledives or Samoa:

We are discussing about the difference of some additional 20 or 30cm due to human impacts but up to now no-one is discussing the most probable natural impacts of the first 1.8m of due to a climatic change as in the 17th century and the result of a rising sealevel. That is, what I call a typical "ignorant European or North American" approach to the "real problem" we might have to meet ... and no-one takes care to this aspect.

Thus we are closing our eyes and minimizing the real problem to some 20 or 30cm what might be a natural problem of some 1.5 or 1.8m! (as to the figures: don't take them literally, but just as an indication of dimensions - the debate is still going on).

But I'm sure: The "next generation" will still be discussing about human impacts not realizing that their children will be able to sail from Voe via the former Spiggie Loch to Colsay on a sunny Sunday afternoon ... ;-).

 

With regard to the planned windfarm or an even bigger one: They will not solve the problem, they will in the best case just postpone the answer to the question "who will be able to enjoy that sailing trip?" for one generation - will it be your grandchildren or your great great-grandchildren?

 

Having that in your mind, look at the map published by Shetland News on Saturday and try to answer my questions about the environmental impacts of the accessroads which were not answered by David, when I asked him here. Is it worth to opt for the worst case? It sounds a bit polemic, but sometimes you have to pinpoint the facts: Apocalypse Then - A more or less sunken Shetland with some turbines placed in a spoiled environment on the top of the Kames serving the rest of continental Europe.

I am sure your great grandchildren would like to kick you ... somewhere ... for that what you have left to them ... ;-)

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You will know the number of turbines to be installed, thus you will know how many access roads will be needed, you know an average length of these roads, and what these access roads have to look like to meet the technical specifications of the transporting trucks regarding for example their length and payload. Number of roads X average length X average width could easily show how many acres of existing mooreland and heather have to be cut down to the solid rock; multiplied with the average thickness of the moss and peat cover will easily show the number of cubikyards which have to be cleared away. Folks are already doing so and from that theay are looking at their peatlands as a "hollowed cheese or sponge".

 

 

Islandhopper, this is from the "windylights" leaflet which came with The Shetland Times last Friday:

 

"The map we've included in this prospectus shows 192 turbines. However there are options and some turbine sites could drop out. We want you to tell us what you think of the draft layout."

 

and: "We estimate that the physical area actually disturbed by access roads, towers, control buildings and hard standings would only be 3.1 km2, roughly 0.2% of the total land area of Shetland. The area immediately affected by the presence of the windfarm - the 'footprint' - would amount to 62km2 which is 4.2% of our land area."

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Interesting figures, crofter, though somehow doubtable if compared with the stuff published by VikingEnergy before. What's even more interesting is

 

i) the formerly published "Scenario A" is quite obviuosly out of discussion if we look at the press release of the company dated 07 March, 2007. The consultation will only be based on the published modified version of "Scenario B". http://www.vikingenergy.co.uk/downloads/Press%20release%20-%20consulation%20start.pdf

 

ii) looking at your quotes from the "windylights" leaflet and taking the there given figures as right we have to see that the overall information is such that it directs the following discussion into a wrong direction right from the start. The interesting question ist NOT how these 0.2% of access roads will affect the 100% of the Shetland environment. The question that has to be answered is how the now confirmed 3.1 km2 of man made bare rocks (of access roads cut through the peat) will affect the now reduced "footprint area" of the whole development of some 62 km2.

 

The job is quite simple: Draw a line around the marked turbine sites on the now published map to mark the 62 km2 of "footprint area" and you will see that the access roads in these hilly areas will be nothing else but a centrally located drainage system to drain the whole 62 km2. We all know how long it took nature to build the peat layers which have to be removed – and that gives us a rough estimation about the length of time for which this draining system will be effective if it is once cut in the hills.

 

Despite that some of the drawn access roads are not more than a mere "artist's impression": Take a suitable OS map, go out to the hillside (weather permitting, please), and look for a site, where the one or the other given access road should be. Now imagine a truck unit with an overall length of some 45m for the rotorblades or a truck unit with some 70to or more overall payload for the turbines engine house creaping up the hill ... and you might easily get your own impression about a smooth access road in that place ... ;-)

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I believed that we were talking about some aero generators along the Kames until I got to look at the map distributed with the Shetland Times. Not so sure about the benefits of the thing now. In any event we have to get a reliable interconnecter to the national grid before the scheme would start to make any sense........at the very least a firm pledge that the cable will be laid on time.

 

Even with the cable I have to wonder why anyone would buy electricity from Shetland's wind farm when they can buy from mainland and offshore sites. Somehow I do not think that we could market Shetland generated electricity as better than the alternatives.

 

Wind is not the answer to renewable large scale power generation in the long term. Reliability of supply can only be provided by having 100% backup that can be brought on line quickly........which means oil fired power stations and perhaps a few coal fired ones. Hydro as a back up for wind might work in some places but there is no great logic with that.

 

The answer lies in the sea.........not strange things that bob about in the waves but in tidal power generation. Reliable and predictable.

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I believed that we were talking about some aero generators along the Kames until I got to look at the map distributed with the Shetland Times. Not so sure about the benefits of the thing now. In any event we have to get a reliable interconnecter to the national grid before the scheme would start to make any sense........at the very least a firm pledge that the cable will be laid on time.

 

The original plan has been changed a couple of times and I would imagine the layout will change again. The original plans have changed for, amongst other things, bird saftey. If the proposed windfarm in Lewis had been more reasonsibly planned perhaps they would have gotten the backing of the RSPB in the same way that Viking Energy has. As the planning and consultation takes place the sites are bound to change.

 

As for the connecter, without that in place, the windfarm will not even begin. So, it's not an issue. Firm pledges are not enough, we have no use for a windfarm without the cable, so if the windfarm goes ahead, it will only be after the cable is being laid.

 

 

The answer lies in the sea.........not strange things that bob about in the waves but in tidal power generation. Reliable and predictable.

 

Tidal power is really the future of power generation. If the moon stops we will have bigger problems than generating power, so i think we can put all our eggs in a tidal power basket and be okay.

 

As tidal power is still in it's infancy, we can't build a tidal power station big enough to justify a interconnecter cable and therefore can't sell the power to anybody. Using the windfarm to provide Shetland with a cable to the mainland opens the door to small scale test tidal stations and someday larger scale ones. If 600MW is a good number for Shetland's contribution to Scotland's power needs, tidal power can replace the wind turbines as they wear out. Or if the tidal technology is ready before they have reached the end of their lifecycle we could always add to our power output.

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As tidal power is still in it's infancy ...

Sure about that?

According to governmental publications and press reports tidal power is to cover about 20% of New Zealand's electric energy demand in 2010.

That's one year ahead of the first turbine of the 600-MW-WPP in Shetland(Wind Power Plant seems to be more correct than the soft "Wind Farm") . ;-)

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Anybody go to the public meeting earlier tonight?

 

 

Up-Helly-A' cancelled and windfarm meeting postponed after tragedy

 

12/03/2007

Delting's Up-Helly-A' celebrations, due to take place this week, have been cancelled after the tragic death of a 26-year-old man.

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Anybody go to the public meeting earlier tonight?

 

 

Up-Helly-A' cancelled and windfarm meeting postponed after tragedy

 

Incorrect Malcolm, i'm sorry to correct you. The public meeting went ahead as planned in Vidlin tonight and was very well attended. For understandable reasons, not all concerned were present, but representatives of the SIC and SSE were present to provide information and answer questions. I would personally recommend attendance at the subsequent meetings to all with even a passing interest. Aith is the next venue on Wednesday night and then Whiteness and Weisdale on thursday. There are further meetings and visits as oulined in the windylights brochure. I think it is fair to stress that this is not yet a "done deal" and that the public consultation is a key part of the development plan. "Hae your say!"

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Anybody go to the public meeting earlier tonight?

 

 

Up-Helly-A' cancelled and windfarm meeting postponed after tragedy

 

Incorrect Malcolm, i'm sorry to correct you. The public meeting went ahead as planned in Vidlin tonight and was very well attended. For understandable reasons, not all concerned were present, but representatives of the SIC and SSE were present to provide information and answer questions. I would personally recommend attendance at the subsequent meetings to all with even a passing interest. Aith is the next venue on Wednesday night and then Whiteness and Weisdale on thursday. There are further meetings and visits as oulined in the windylights brochure. I think it is fair to stress that this is not yet a "done deal" and that the public consultation is a key part of the development plan. "Hae your say!"

 

 

 

Not quite as incorrect as you think, here was a meeting planned for Brae too. This was the one I was refering to.

Info came from the Shetland Times.

 

No harm done.

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  • admin changed the title to Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

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