Puilladobhrain turbine montage

[Nick]

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PACT (People Against Clachan Turbines) have now produced a montage showing what the proposed windfarm will look like from a viewpoint that includes Puilladobhrain. Click the pic for a bigger version.



There is a box down at Puilladobhrain with postcards for those who wish to to post their objections. Planning permission has not yet been applied for, but it could be in the next few weeks.

PACT website

West Coast Renewables

[Nick]

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No comments at all?

I gather there have been a lot of postcards filled in and that as usual when the objections are counted most of them will (as with the fish farm) come from people who do not live in the area.

[ubergeekian]

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No comments at all?

I gather there have been a lot of postcards filled in and that as usual when the objections are counted most of them will (as with the fish farm) come from people who do not live in the area.

Doesn't look too bad at all to me. The irregular layout makes it look a lot less "industrial". We have a fair few wind farms of various sizes in the Galloway hills now, and they are pretty unobtrusive.

There's a very vocal group here, GLARE (Galloway Landscape and Renewable Energy) which campaigns against wind farms. They raised money for a local referendum to bolster their position and were rather miffed when the people they asked voted 3:1 in favour of the turbines.

Perhaps PACT would prefer this as the alternative?

[Nick]

Perhaps PACT would prefer this as the alternative?

Yes, a lot of them would - because it would be built somewhere else

[DaveS]

I suspect that most of us are becoming so used to Scotland rapidly disappearing under wind turbines that one more fine view spoiled is, well, just that. The fact that a single large building constructed on the Clyde could, given less blinkered political will, produce more CO2 free energy than all the windmills put together and with much greater reliability merely increases the irritation. But, hey ho, that's democracy.

Just about to post when warned about previous comments and may wish to change, but no, I don't think I will.

[Rowana]

All these windmills are just a stupid waste of space and completely daft technology.

They only work when the wind is blowing, and when the said wind dies down, the only thing that can take it's place is thermal, be it coal, oil or gas fired. Trouble is, you can't just switch on and of a thermal generation station. It takes days to get them up to temperature and pressure.

The ONLY viable renewable power source is hydro/tidal. We all know when the tide comes in and out, and I've never yet heard of the Dee/Don/Deveron/Forth/Clyde/Tay Etc. Etc., drying up.

Of course, nobody will grasp what the fundamental problem is with the world - There are just too many of us on the planet. I'm not advocating a Hitleresque cull, but we need to do SOMETHING, and PDQ too !

[aquaplane]

When we run out of oil/water/food there will be a natural cull either by starvation or war or some combination of the two.

[sahona]

Having watched the rise and fall of Hunterston A over the years, and noting that we're now stuck with a cocooned monstrosity for several generations, can I mention that at least when the propellors all fall off these windmills, we will be able to restore the countryside to it's former beauty.
I assume that responsibility has been written into the planning permission.
I know it was supposed to happen with the rig yards, but it didn't work. I suppose Portavadie marina is the next best thing from our point of view, what about the rest of the derelict (and sometimes dangerous) crap that's lying rotting round the coast? Someone must own it.

[Rowana]

When we run out of oil/water/food there will be a natural cull either by starvation or war or some combination of the two.

It would be nice if the human race with their so-called intelligence could organise things so that neither of these options would be required. I don't really fancy me, or any of my offspring, starving to death or being blown to smithereens!

[ubergeekian]

Yes, a lot of them would - because it would be built somewhere else

Same down here. People who oppose such things would have more legs to stand on, imo, if they didn't also expect electricity to be generated for them somewhere else.

[Nick]

Having watched the rise and fall of Hunterston A over the years, and noting that we're now stuck with a cocooned monstrosity for several generations, can I mention that at least when the propellors all fall off these windmills, we will be able to restore the countryside to it's former beauty.

SCND's web entry on Hunterston

Nuclear might be carbon free (actually it isn't) but it certainly isn't problem free.

No easy solutions. This planet can easily produce enough food and energy to keep a population of 9 billion in comfort. Rowana's right in a way, people are the problem - but it's not numbers, it's attitude.

[Nick]

Yes, a lot of them would - because it would be built somewhere else

Same down here. People who oppose such things would have more legs to stand on, imo, if they didn't also expect electricity to be generated for them somewhere else.

For a tiny while I fell into the NIMBY thing over this. Easy trap. Better now.

[ubergeekian]

They only work when the wind is blowing, and when the said wind dies down, the only thing that can take it's place is thermal, be it coal, oil or gas fired. Trouble is, you can't just switch on and of a thermal generation station. It takes days to get them up to temperature and pressure.

You can switch them on, you know. It all depends on whether they are being kept as spinning reserve (turning, synched, not generating), warm reserve (boilers just about simmering) or cold reserve (what it sounds like). Spinning reserve can come on line in a few minutes, warm reserve in an hour or two or so, cold reserve in a day. Gas turbine plants get up to full output from cold in twenty minutes or so. Weather forecasts aren't great, but they are good enough for that sort of notice, so it's certainly not necessary to keep thermal plants running all the time in case they are needed.

Sure, few renewables give constant output - tidal stops twice a day after all - but we're just going to have to cope with that. Every kWh generated from renewables is a kWh not generated from fossil fuels (nukes run at full tilt all the time for physics reasons) and that's a Good Thing.

[Nick]

When we run out of oil/water/food there will be a natural cull either by starvation or war or some combination of the two.

And that's your ideal solution?

[ubergeekian]

For a tiny while I fell into the NIMBY thing over this. Easy trap. Better now.

It seems common here for windfarm developers to give one turbine to the local community. The income from that seems to smooth away a lot of concerns. Alas I don't live in a windy enough bit ...