Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

[sheepshagger]

come on mods how about attaching a poll on this subject, for, against, or no idea. theres the brucks of 1500 folk registered on here and if 25% of them take part it would be a pretty good indicator of public opinion.

[trout]

oh fur da tings dat yu could say fur wy dat widna wirk

[Medziotojas]

The Lewis windfarm may yet get the go ahead:

 

BBC News 12/02/08

 

The isles' local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has taken its campaign backing the wind farm on Barvas Moor to the European Union.

 

Comhairle leaders also met Enterprise Minister Jim Mather, calling on the first minister to step into the row.

 

It wants Alex Salmond to intervene because it believes the project will bring jobs and other economic and social benefits.

 

The Scottish Government described the discussions as "useful and wide-ranging".

 

The final decision on the planning application rests with the Scottish Government.

 

 

 

BBC News 13/02/08

[PJ of Hildisvik]

A wild life photographer friend of mine doon sooth , has just yesterday been asking viking energy some questions.

David Thompson sent him a reply, this is an overview by me by the way.

 

 

50% of profits retained in Shetland.

Other economic benefits such as rentals to the hundreds of land lords and crofters and scores of highly skilled jobs.

 

Shetland is very familiar with ensuring that the community can co-exist with substantial industrial development.

 

He agrees the site contains Red Throated Divers and Merlin, but is not one of Shetlands unique protected areas.

 

So that makes it perfectly OK then does it??

 

Lloyd austin of the RSPB says they have established a new level of best practice!

 

This is the best one though.

Viking Energy have a habitat management plan which includes proposals to undertake Red Throated Diver breeding territory improvement works which may counter the existing decline of breeding lochs.

 

This will increase the Raingoose population and be a positive enviromental outcome attributable to the wind farm.

 

So theres something to mull over , we're all gonna be rich and save the wildlife as well.

[Medziotojas]

 

Shetland is very familiar with ensuring that the community can co-exist with substantial industrial development.

 

 

If this is in reference to the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal, then that's pretty much tucked away in comparison to VE's proposals. Of course, the flare stack is still an eyesore, particularly at night. Incidentally, couldn't the excess gas that is flared off be utilized?

 

It's a bit ironic that the "green" energy proposed by VE is going to create a bigger blot on the landscape covering a much larger area than the oil terminal. Having said that, if you look at Google Earth by night the North Sea between Shetland and Norway is lit up like a Christmas tree!

 

I think it would be worth investigating smaller scale community windfarms and individual micro-generation, oh yeah, and using less resources wherever possible.

 

 

typo

[Fjool]

Incidentally, couldn't the excess gas that is flared off be utilized?

Isn't it just the industrial scale equivalent of a pilot light? I.e. if there was a need for gas to be vented suddenly, this flare is ready to ignite it. This is what I heard anyway...

 

You're right about it being an eye-sore.

[PJ of Hildisvik]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but i swear i heard on the grape-vine, ages ago that BP during the construction stage of Sullom Voe offered SIC the chance to have gas piped , to the likes of Brae , Voe etc but the council turned it down because they wanted the oil company to pay for all the work, so BP said b***** off.

[Peatcutter]

The current UK weather illustrates the limitations of wind power. There is hardly any wind anywhere in the UK due to a high pressure system. This likely to be the case for several days.

Wind power can not replace existing power stations, it can only supplement the power supplied by them and possibly reduce the amount of fuel used.

Even if the VE wind factory goes ahead we will still have to have our power station in Shetland or face intermittent power supply.

Wind power is very much overrated and over subsidised at present.

[sheepshagger]

Very little wind yet only 3 windmills been turning the last two days

[Njugle]

Found a leaflet for this while off isle:

 

http://stopturbinesonpressendye.com/

 

Another complainant, another planned scheme.

 

Stats they are quoting, unverified by me:

 

* Wind energy is unreliable, power stations burning fossil fuels have to be kept on standby running below maximum efficiency , ready to step i when the wind drops. They produce more CO2 than when running at full power, cancelling out the savings claimed for wind power.
 
* Germany, with many more turbines than the UK is building 27 new coal-fired power stations
 
* In Denmark, no fossil fuel power stations have been closed despite the construction of 6000 wind turbines. Carbon emissions have increased.

 

There's more but hey ho, it's not going to affect me, right?

[islandhopper]

... * Germany, with many more turbines than the UK is building 27 new coal-fired power stations ...

Well, according to Greenpeace, BUND & others there are actually 25 planning applications ... thereof two are developments by Danish companies ...

[Peatcutter]

It looks like a phased construction of the Lewis wind factory is being proposed.

http://www.western-isles.info/page952.html

[Medziotojas]

Another one bites the dust...

 

Wind farm development thrown out

 

Plans to build a wind farm less than a mile from Auchtermuchty in Fife have been dismissed after a public inquiry.

[petrocelli_]

Ah, where do you begin?

 

I've been watching the whole windfarm debate for some time now with considerable interest and have eventually succumbed to posting my thoughts on this whole affair.

 

There are so many arguments for and against the windfarm, for example...

 

Debatable CO2 savings

Potential Community Earnings

Sub-sea Interconnector

Peat Disturbance

Environmental impact

etc,. etc,

 

the list goes on and on......

 

No, for me, this whole debate should get things back on track and more importantly in perspective.

 

If SSE were wading in here right now proposing this windfarm on their own then IMO it would be a complete non-starter. However, the fact that the community could own 50% of any potential windfarm and eventually reap any potential profits, then it is a totally different prospect. Does that mean that this is all about money? You're damn right it does, but not at any cost!

 

Yes, we will have to accept that there will be sacrifices made but in the bigger scheme of things how great will those sacrifices be?

 

There are many points of undeniable scenic beauty in Shetland, not one of them exists in the area of the Lang Kames! In fact, if you look at all the areas which would be recognised as scenically or scientifically significant IMO none will be impacted by the creation of a windfarm in the heathery moors of the Kames and surrounding areas.

 

In the pursuit of North Sea Oil over 430 human lives have been lost and thousands have been critically injured in the first 25 years of production alone. Thousands of animals have been been killed and wildlife polluted due to incidents such as the Esso Bernicia, Braer and others alike. As a result of oil pollution animals suffer a slow and painful death by suffocation.

 

At the same time we have gladly accepted hundreds of millions of pounds in payments from the oil industry which has in turn given us the privileged society we live in today.

 

Shetland has prospered over these last 30 years due to oil money and there would be no more fitting legacy if we took some of that money, even if it was a fairly big share, and invest it in a project such as the VE Windfarm.

 

SCT funds are dwindling fast and even with more diligent management it will not be able to meet all the demands our society needs over the next 50 years. This is the main reason we should be supporting such a project . VE could return hundreds of millions into community funds ensuring future generations are able to afford the same lifestyle we have been fortunate enough to have enjoyed these last three decades.

 

The people in Shetland who have real grounds for objection are those who will be living within and around the proposed windfarm. If suitable compensation, or support from the communities themselves, cannot be secured in the areas of Nesting, Vidlin, Voe, Aith etc. then am afraid it's a non-starter.

 

As I've said there are countless arguments for and against all of which I personally have considered, some pathetic and others very plausible but IMO we should pursue this project all the way.

[PJ of Hildisvik]

To start with you don't come across as the "outdoors" type, i get pissed off with people slagging off the landscape and scenery of the lang-kames, saying that because it's just peat and bog it's not fit for anything.

But you said that the whole area proposed for development is worth nothing in terms of it's enviroment, so the AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY,including the whole Weisdale valley, up pass the mill etc, deserves to be turned into a huge industrial zone!

Isuppose this is one of the sacrifices you're on about.

You said that compensation would have to be paid out to the villages and individual houses nearest the development, and that those people would be the only ones to complain about the wind farm, well you're wrong there cos i'm complaining and i won't be living near it, but i'll see it from every bloody hill on Shetland.

 

Tourism, which is just taking off will be stuffed, the value of property will plummet , nobody's going to spend a fortune getting up here just to drive through a forest of 470 foot high turbines, hundreds of hectares of re afforested native Shetland trees ,maybe!

 

Shetland is not the size of Texas , and cannot take a development of this size, and to people who say make it smaller, that can't happen because the interconnector would'nt be viable.

 

Conserving energy on Shetland is the answer, with money invested towards tidal power generation, for our own needs and micro generation, plus top of the range insulation etc for all council and housing association propertys.

 

This island has the potential to steam ahead with these projects without the money grabbing people who are quite willing to SACRIFICE these small but unique islands for their own personal greed.