Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

[crofter]

then lets make them do so that it benifits us not banks et.al. why should we not have cheap power. we certanly never had cheap petrol. its ours so lets use it.

 

What would benefit Shetland the most - a massive windfarm which might or might not provide a surplus of cash for the Council to, erm, "invest" or hundreds of microturbines to help provide affordable electricity for everyone in the isles? Windfarm or windcroft?

[paulb]

The one country that has it sussed and that is Iceand, perhaps we should have a cable to there and tap into all that Geo-Thermal energy?

but what about the interconector thats going to be one very long cable. maybe the icelandic people want to keep there gysers intact!

[Njugle]

Iceland was entirely happy to plan a link to shetland and perhaps beyond more than a decade ago. They have (clean, renewable, cheap) energy to spare.

 

And to address a previous point paulb, there has never been a possibility of cheap electricity for shetland from the VE windfarm, in fact representatives of SSE made no secret that the price of electricity will go up as a result. Cheap energy encourages consumption and nobody on either side is saying that's a good thing.

 

Further down the line? Well, if the subsidies continue and if the turbines are reliable and if the building costs are well managed and if the calculated returns are correct (or at least positive) and if the interconnector transmission cost does not gobble up that profit and if the whole VE plan as it stands is a-okay etc etc, then, maybe ten or twenty years down the line the CT may be able to fund local micro-renewables that reduce energy costs for individual people in Shetland, which would be great.

 

 

Starting with a big turbine or two on the Staney hill to heat Clickimin Centre.

[ArabiaTerra]

then lets make them do so that it benifits us not banks et.al. why should we not have cheap power. we certanly never had cheap petrol. its ours so lets use it.

 

What would benefit Shetland the most - a massive windfarm which might or might not provide a surplus of cash for the Council to, erm, "invest" or hundreds of microturbines to help provide affordable electricity for everyone in the isles? Windfarm or windcroft?

Er, make that thousands of microturbines and you'll be closer to the mark.

[ArabiaTerra]

I will say, while I'm here, that though I'm an enthusiastic supporter of the windfarm, there are a few things I'd like to see done differently, for instance:

 

1. The interconnect cable should be at least twice and preferably three or four times the capacity required for the VE proposal. This would mean that once the wave and, more importantly, the tidal power generating systems are ready for large scale deployment, they can be deployed straight away and the cable will be sitting there ready for them. This should not be too expensive as, as far as I know, the main cost of the cable is the laying, not the cable itself.

 

2. Shetland will use a small fraction of the power generated from the windfarm, and the power will be 'green' anyway, so I see no reason why Shetland should not get cheaper power. Say half of the cost of the mainland power.

 

3. I would also like to see some sort of dividend payment to all Shetland households on an annual basis. Something akin to what they have in Alaska for the oil revenue. And this scheme should be independent of the VE proposal so that any further large scale generating projects such as wave or tidal could be incorporated into it.

 

What do you think?

[ArabiaTerra]

(Warning: rambling incoherent post from a beer-swilling insomniac ahead)

 

To expand a bit on point 2 from the post above. This drive towards energy efficiency is all very laudable while we are burning fossil fuels to produce our electricity, but once we have eliminated fossil fuels, it becomes pointless (except from the standpoint of saving us money). Modern life is energy intensive anyway and always will be and the way technology is penetrating every aspect of our lives, it will only become more so. That's why I am so firmly pro the windfarm. Efficiency measures can only ever nibble at the edges of the problem. It is the way we generate our power that is the fundamental problem, not the way we use it.

[Pooks]

Oh dear. The windfarm won't be good news for any bat lovers out there. Vampires watch out:-

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KRqu4WiLQfk

[paulb]

Oh dear. The windfarm won't be good news for any bat lovers out there. Vampires watch out:-

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KRqu4WiLQfk

 

im sure that won't be a big issue up here. unless the nimbys import some. there are enough miggies to feed them up

[DamnSaxon]

I'm generally in favour of wind energy, but big windmills are not without problems.

[ArabiaTerra]

Bradford Council in West Yorkshire recently received a planning application for the construction of a 400ft turbine about 300ft from a residential area.

I'm a supporter and even I think that is a ridiculous application. There is no way turbines should be built that close to housing.

[Njugle]

Dare i ask why not AT? It's not like a pylon or anything harmful is it.

[paulb]

at least they won't need air conditioning.

is there no electro magnetic radiation from the turbines.

we are lucky that they wont be built on top of the houses. whats rhe impact of a couple of thousand turbines.

why if the council are so keen on wind energy have they not built them to power the sports centres/pools.

lets see if its viable on this scale and then move on from there.

maybe we could look at green generation from the streams and tidal movements into some of the lochs. the one at weisedale seems to have a poerful flow. how about a road/causeway with turbines across yell sound. did the french not do something like that. the power production would help pay for it.

[ArabiaTerra]

400ft turbine about 300ft from a residential area.

If it did fail?

[paulb]

its bradford. who cares

[PJ of Hildisvik]

Theres been cases in England where people have had there council tax reduced because of noise from nearby turbines, if Shetlands wind factory ever gets the go ahead, then the council tax should be scrapped here, and if not , then the council should be deported to Forvik.