Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

[islandhopper]

Not sure the trucks would negotiate the bend at the brig o' fitch (golf course)

 

3 months seems optimistic to me, i don't think they are planning such an intensive construction phase?

The brig o' fitch would not be that prob at night time and a bit of the brucks to the right and left be cleared before ...

 

3 month: Just calculated the blocking times of existing public roads. The concrete transport for the foundations would not cause any prob. Neither would do the building of the access roads - off the roads for daily traffic. After the foundation is laid the errection of the turbine itself is a job for a day ... 4 teams ... well 3 1/2 months ... asparagus sprouts are growing slower ...

[Flaming Mo]

Sullom Voe is where the turbines are expected to come ashore. Why else were the Council so adamant about getting the fish meal factory at graven.

[Sudden Stop]

Knowing about the long lasting fishing traditions in the isles these swimming cages in the voes are regarded as a "normal" development within a fishing community. With all respect to living history approaches but why should a Shetland fisherman go out for fishing in a sixareen today?

 

The mussle rope/farms are certainly not tradition evolving into industry. They are an absolute blight on our seascapes and I would quite happily get behind any campaign to rid the seas of them. The windfarm won't be nearly as much of an eyesore. Yes they'll be big and yes, there will be a lot of them but they are a lot better to look at and i hardly even notice the burradale turbines anymore anyway. People will get used to seeing them.

[crofter]

People will get used to seeing them.

 

Just like we have gotten used to seeing the mussel farms??

[Sudden Stop]

^^^

 

I know the wind turbines are gonna be far bigger but i still think that they'll become part of the furniture. The mussle farms just look like rubbish and debris floating in the water, their hap-hazard, disorganised appearence means that I haven't got used to them. Grrrrr.

[SJD]

What on earth are we talking about here. Getting used to seeing huge generators, 200 of them, mile upon mile of 15metre wide service roads? Really the issue is not will we get used to them. We are custodians not owners of our environment. Every day we live thanks to the environment which allows us to do so. That a public resource can be so easily and readily put beyond public ownership by a private company to make vast profits is an obscenity. During this last week the big developers of this scheme have received a bloody nose at the hands of public opinion, long may it continue if I've got anything to do with it until they back off and take there money making schemes with them. Whats more before anybody says it this is truly not in my back yardism because in the Shetland context if you or I or other individuals don't take care of our backyard who else is going to? Not SIC with there hands in the till. Not the landowners with there hands in the till as well. Not the environmental lobby which to date has been deathly silent on the subject. Its down to plain old john/jane doe, you and me telling them where they can stick there windfarm and if that ain't democracy I don't know what is? Pity SIC haven't even begun to learn that lesson especially as next week they are apparently holding a seminar to tell all budding councillors just how to go about it. I don't think so, thanks!

[Ghostrider]

Simple question for the "anti" camp. What is Shetland and what are Shetland residents going to survive on in the future?

 

Agriculture is washed up, fishieries is a pale shadow, Sullom is on the downhill slope, knitwear went up the creek years ago. What's left, tourism? Notoriously fickle is it not, and only a very finite number will ever put up with the hassles of getting here, the cost of getting here, and our climate when they do. It's never been an universal gold mine, and I can't see how it ever will be one.

 

We, Shetland, will need, in not too many years, something exportable, like agriculture and fishieries used to be, like oil has been of late, as none of these three will be up to it any longer. What's it going to be?

 

We have plenty of water, rock, and wind. The water angle has been dabbled with in the past, but it's a very competitive market, and very little has ever come of it. Rock was mooted not long since, and the suggestion almost created a riot. This now is the wind, it's getting to be all that's left to consider.

 

I'm a fence sitter on the issue, I'd much rather not have a man made forest atop many of our hills, and if we do have to have it, I'd much rather it only affected a much smaller tract of land than the current proposals. However, with that said, if it can bring revenue in to the islands one way or another either short of long term, it's difficult to oppose it at a time when other revenue streams have already been reduced to trickles or are drying up steadily.

 

The works will change the hills affected, of that there is no doubt, but I'm yet to be convinced the results will be quite so drastic as some are portraying. Large chunks of hill and hilly areas in the south end were scalped of feet deep of moor in the not too distant past, for a variety of reasons, and granted there are one or two notorious black earth and shingly patches as a result, but for the most part the hills recovered and are still quite popular habitats for birds and wildlife alike, and that was with blanket removal, what's being proposed here is just part removal of moor.

 

Likewise, beginning in the 40's, and added to up until the 70's, roads were forged in to hills in the south end, and while some changes to ground water behaviour resulted, it was nothing major or drastic, mirey hols you could go over the head in still exist no more than a few yards from road channels cut through the moor. Moor is notoriously waterproof and almost impossible to successfully drain even when you're purposely trying to. Also, for a similar period every hill from Levenwick and south has been topped by one sort or another of assorted scanners, pylons, masts, radar golf balls, aircraft warning beacons and god knows what else, but it's never been an issue as regards visitors wanting to come to the area, or stay in the several hotels and guest houses which have existed, and/or still do exist.

[crofter]

Simple question for the "anti" camp. What is Shetland and what are Shetland residents going to survive on in the future?

mussels? Potentially, the sea can provide a lot of wealth for Shetland from both aquaculture and fisheries provided things are managed sustainably.

 

Likewise, beginning in the 40's, and added to up until the 70's, roads were forged in to hills in the south end, and while some changes to ground water behaviour resulted, it was nothing major or drastic, mirey hols you could go over the head in still exist no more than a few yards from road channels cut through the moor. Moor is notoriously waterproof and almost impossible to successfully drain even when you're purposely trying to.

 

 

Good point.

[north]

I think the current windmills are the most hideous feature anywere in Shetland. More will be even more hideous. Until someone achieves a means to hide or disguise them, they should be restricted in their use.

 

One of the biggest problems with the small minds within the Council, is that instead of considering a varied future for the Islands with a myriad of small enterprises, they jump on whatever they can, for a one fix for everything. It is indicative of the lack of support for sound business planning and the ability to create a realistic big picture plan for the next 5, 10 and 20 years. The other principle issue, is they will create very little long term employment or associated indirect jobs.

 

Never put all your eggs in one basket. 8O

 

Sound advice from the past!

[Sudden Stop]

Simple question for the "anti" camp. What is Shetland and what are Shetland residents going to survive on in the future?

mussels? Potentially, the sea can provide a lot of wealth for Shetland from both aquaculture and fisheries provided things are managed sustainably.

 

More mussle farms eh? Hmmm, me thinks that was a dig at me? thanks crofter!

 

 

I'm a fence sitter on the issue, I'd much rather not have a man made forest atop many of our hills, and if we do have to have it, I'd much rather it only affected a much smaller tract of land than the current proposals. However, with that said, if it can bring revenue in to the islands one way or another either short of long term, it's difficult to oppose it at a time when other revenue streams have already been reduced to trickles or are drying up steadily.

 

Absolutely, the smaller the impacted area the better, but the original plans for a smaller foot print/concentrated wind farm would have never been accepted by the RSPB and look at the farce that the proposed Lewis project has become after not taking the RSPB seriously.

 

However since Kames cannot accomodate 600mw worth of turbines and the raingeese, and since the raingeese won't move the turbine sites have had to. My support for the project has reduced since seeing the new layout but I still believe that the project has the potential to provided Shetland with a great new source of income. Not just the handfull of jobs or the supposed millions that will go into the SIC coffers, but the potential to phase out the wind turbines in 20 years or so and replace them with tidal or wave powered generators.

 

With the interconnector cable in place, it opens Shetland up for the future to sell electricity from all sorts of sources.

[crofter]

 

More mussle farms eh? Hmmm, me thinks that was a dig at me? thanks crofter!

 

Yes, sorry, but also a serious point. Personally I don't think all the mussel lines are that much of a big deal, I don't think the Burradale turbines are an eyesore either. Haven't made up my mind about the proposed Viking Energy project, but I'm leaning towards being against it, just because the scale is so huge. I can see there are potentially huge benefits as well though. One thing which I do think is a terrible eyesore is a modern house with a red roof - but maybe that is for another thread?!

[Sudden Stop]

I think the matter of aesthetics will come down to each individuals taste and there's nothing anybody can do or say to change that aspect. There are things all over the islands that are messy or dis-tasteful, but when talking about the project as a whole there are more important issues than just the looks of the thing. What i'm trying to say is: don't disregard the whole project just because the towers and turbines will be visible.

 

I like the idea of starting another thread just for whinging about eyesores though. I'm off to start one!

[DavyR]

What on earth are we talking about here. Getting used to seeing huge generators, 200 of them, mile upon mile of 15metre wide service roads? Really the issue is not will we get used to them. We are custodians not owners of our environment. Every day we live thanks to the environment which allows us to do so. That a public resource can be so easily and readily put beyond public ownership by a private company to make vast profits is an obscenity. During this last week the big developers of this scheme have received a bloody nose at the hands of public opinion, long may it continue if I've got anything to do with it until they back off and take there money making schemes with them. Whats more before anybody says it this is truly not in my back yardism because in the Shetland context if you or I or other individuals don't take care of our backyard who else is going to? Not SIC with there hands in the till. Not the landowners with there hands in the till as well. Not the environmental lobby which to date has been deathly silent on the subject. Its down to plain old john/jane doe, you and me telling them where they can stick there windfarm and if that ain't democracy I don't know what is? Pity SIC haven't even begun to learn that lesson especially as next week they are apparently holding a seminar to tell all budding councillors just how to go about it. I don't think so, thanks!

Excellent post. I also don’t buy the argument that Shetland is washed up economically either. Human ingenuity and technology changes all the time. Are we really suggesting that Shetland has no future without a disproportionately, huge wind farm covering almost a quarter of the mainland?

 

The comparison with Sullom Voe doesn’t stack up either. It was coming from outside whether we wanted it or nor. Those in power in Shetland at the time had enough foresight to ensure they had a degee of control over the whole operation. I don’t believe anyone in the SIC today would have the foresight to do the same. The wind farm is being proposed from within, with motives which are far from clear.

 

It certainly just looks like a money-making plan, which is jumping on the back of the current climate change hysteria rampaging throughout the media.

 

We are told in the patronising and condescending leaflet put out last week by Viking Energy that one motive is to reduce “carbon emissionsâ€. “Carbon emissions†– surely a phrase that shows that those who write the chronically misinformed articles in the mainstream media on climate change have little idea what they are talking about.

 

Current ideas about climate change are based on nothing more than extrapolation by incomplete computer models full of assumptions and feedback loops which can be used to prove just about anything. You put feedback in a computer model and the required results can be gleaned by running the system on its own noise, with a tweak here and there.

 

So, we will destroy the environment of Shetland to save the planet? I’m not impressed. I have followed the global warming argument since I first heard about it many years ago. It is only suddenly in the past few years that the panic set in – once the idea was finally sold to politicians and economists who saw another a way to profit from peoples’ fears.

 

Have the directors of Viking Energy really bought into the climate change argument, or is it just another example of those cynically jumping on a bandwagon to make a buck?

 

I think public opinion is about to change on the “man-made climate change†issue – and not before time. People are finally starting to realise that the apocalyptic predictions made by the green lobby are not based on such solid scientific “evidence†as they have been lead to believe.

 

Maybe opinion will change enough before we have a huge industrial complex in the middle of our island which dwarfs the Sullom Voe terminal by a huge factor, or we will just end up looking stupid for spending up to £1,000,000,000 on another white-elephant based on a technology which may well be obsolete in 20 years.

 

No wind farm – thank you very much.

 

DR.

[SJD]

Simple question for the "anti" camp. What is Shetland and what are Shetland residents going to survive on in the future?

 

This question and its answer in no way affect the wrongness of what is proposed as a huge windfarm on Shetland.

It is a good question and the answer is simply 'self-sufficiency'.

The millions stashed away must be applied initially to a massive training system. Then used in setting up small industries and then in a push to export.

It begins like this. Say - SIC have a bill of £100,000 a year for toilet rolls (it could be several types of things) there is no way in can be reduced and it has to be imported. You start from scratch by bringing in one or two specialists and others who can train men and women in every aspect of producing toilet rolls from engineering to admin to design to finance to production to sales etc. New style modern apprenticeships for all age groups are on offer, full time and part time. You will need to build an eco friendly all encompassing production facility which will include the facilities necessary for training as well as production and admin. At a certain stage you will be able to supply the £100,000 worth of toilet rolls and a condition of the initial investment by SIC in training and setting up everything is also that the new company is guaranteed that £100,000 contract each year. The company will then look at gaining contracts to supply toilet rolls off Shetland. The surplus trained staff will at an agreed stage move on to the next large contract requirement.

The key to all this is training. Perhaps inviting all those young people who have gone from Shetland after say university to come back as trainers in their particular speciality. Reuniting families in the process. Setting up a family business style in which age is no barrier to skills and to earning a living wage.

A similar system could be established in the services sector. Training is the key. Demographics of the Shetland population the governing factor so that money is effectively directed.

It is practical and achieveable with the political will and the brains behind it. For goodness sake its not space science.

[Carlos]

I think public opinion is about to change on the “man-made climate change†issue – and not before time. People are finally starting to realise that the apocalyptic predictions made by the green lobby are not based on such solid scientific “evidence†as they have been lead to believe.

 

While it's clear that climate change has been jumped on by some "greens" as a scare tactic to oppose industrialisation, and that it is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in mainstream politics, I would be supprised if climate changes over the next 30 years end up less than the midline predictions by mainstream scientists.....

 

No apocalypse in terms of temperatures and sea levels, or anything so dramatic, just things moving slightly away from our comfort zone, and us not having enough slack in the line to cope without feeling it.