Thursday, 22nd October 2009
A mix of renewables and nuclear energy is needed to meet Scotland’s future energy demands
Dear Sir,
The former deputy prime minister, John Prescott, has said that rural communities, wishing to protect their scenery, are impeding green energy projects. He has called for councils to be more or less forced to agree to a wind farm in their area.
Green energy is important and the growth of renewables should be supported. Wind energy has become an important part of the energy mix and has seen a big expansion over the past decade. But on-shore wind farms may actually be doing more harm than good for Scotland.
Germany, for example, has over 20,000 subsidised wind turbines producing around 40,000 megawatt-hours of energy per year. While this is impressive, it is less than the output from 3 modern nuclear reactors that could occupy the same small site and not demand any subsidy to compete on the market.
So far in the UK we have installed over 2,000 giant wind turbines at a cost of billions of pounds in site construction and subsidy. These 2,000 turbines produce less than 1% of our total energy requirements. And yet they still require another baseload energy supplier to provide us with electricity when there is no wind or when the wind is so strong the turbines have to be shut down to avoid damage.
In addition, not only our unique landscape, but our natural carbon capture and storage systems found in peat bogs and forests, is being destroyed in the headlong rush to construct wind farms.
The Scottish Government must see sense and appreciate that a mix of renewables and nuclear energy is what is needed to meet Scotland’s future energy demands.
Struan Stevenson
