Keeping The Lights On

In a recently published IPSOS-MORI poll some interesting statistics emerged, not least Q23H ‘The independence of scientists is often put at risk by the interests of their funders’. 77% agreed with that question, so all is not quite lost when pondering the vagaries of Big Pharma and the Big Six.

Then again, Q12C asks an opinion on this statement: ‘Human activity does not have a significant effect on the climate’. 75% disagreed.  That’s three-quarters of those polled who believe that we humans can, in some miraculous way, control the climate.

When asked about renewable energy (Q7J) 12% answered ‘very well informed’ and 49% ‘fairly well informed’. That leaves over a third content to pay ever increasing utility bills without question.  Rather scary, particularly when we’re all supposed to be feeling the pinch more and more.

Bishop’s Hill noted ’76% of adults support offshore wind’ and ’58% think that offshore wind will have a positive effect on the UK economy’.  Here’s a good link to the cost of off-shore wind farms.

This weekend the Sunday Post published a special investigation into the ‘true’ cost of the Scottish Government’s ‘turbine obsession’. The Sunday Post is well known for being a Tory supporting newspaper but over the years I have found its investigative journalism of a good quality.  Currently there are 210 operational wind farms in Scotland with at least 2,400 turbines. £2.8billion has been paid to operators since May 2007, adding almost £69 to the average household’s cost of living, with £33 of that in electricity charges alone.

The next paragraph is more concerning:

The annual subsidy in Scotland stands at £434 million, with experts speculating that figure could top £1 billion by the end of the decade.

If these ‘experts’ are anywhere near the mark, our utility bills will rise to such an extent that only the really wealthy will be able to buy food for themselves.

The Scottish Government’s answer to critics is that wind farms have secured almost 12,000 jobs.  I’ve yet to meet anyone who knows of anyone connected with the wind farm industry, have you?  Considering these farms are built by foreign businesses who use their own labour forces, I am sceptical about the contribution wind farms bring to the Scottish economy.

When you read the Sunday Post’s article, one word, repeated three times by wind farm supporters, gives a clue to the endless building of these monstrosities.  No, it’s not money (although that is also a priority) but targets.  

But, as the anti-wind farm campaigner said “Our communities are under siege”.  Indeed they are and the sieges will continue unless politicians are told firmly that wind farm targets must be reduced.  I support Murdo Fraser’s accusation that ‘the Scottish Government has an obsession with turbines’.

Will the public protest to continue to meekly pay ever increasing utility bills?

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Bullying By The Scottish Government

These days only a few believe, hook, line and sinker, in the MSM's reporting, though sometimes the evidence is too strong to dismiss.

However, if this is true - and unfortunately it seems to be case - then my faith in Alex Salmond's government has fallen to a new low.

In the past year or so I've heard the whispers about pressure being put on various people to pursue the SNP's determination to cover Scotland with wind turbines, but I had no idea how widespread, or true, it was - until now.

This is a folly the SNP will regret for many a year. Quite a bit of the SNP's support lies in rural Scotland where there is an atmosphere of discontent; not only about windmills but also planning permissions for developments on land which was designated as green belt.  

Rural dwellers are far more likely to vote than those who live in cities.  Perhaps that's because they know, or know of, their MSP.  Rural politicians, because of the sparser populations, are usually recognised and some make great efforts to approach every section of communities.

For any Scottish council to be threatened by the appointment of 'a Scottish Government planning reporter to produce an "examination report", if they ignored the Scottish Government's views is shocking.  Scotland's senior Scottish Government planner, simon Pallant, continued, "You will be aware that examination reports are largely binding on planning authorities."

It's not often I sing the praises of the Westminster government, but with regard to windmills the Coalition's new policy has windmills in perspective:


The Telegraph article may make uncomfortable reading for SNP members and supporters of independence, but unease shows just how wrong this bullying behaviour is and should not be tolerated.

Will Scots wake up before their lovely country is covered in wind turbines?  I would like to say yes, but I hesitate to do so.

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The North Disconnect

Less than a year go Alex Salmond was hailing the introduction of the Scotland-Norway interconnector which would link hydro power from Norway with wind energy from Scotland.

The project received £553,000 in a grant from the EU last March and the Scottish European Green Energy Centre also contributed a grant of about £40,000 to support early survey work.

The project company was NorthConnect which is owned by five partners in Norway, the UK and Sweden. The five partners are Agder Energi, E-CO, Lyse, Scottish and Southern Energy and Vattenfall AB.

On the 5th of this month it was reported that Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) had pulled out of the consortium offering the reason of a need to focus on its core markets of GB and Ireland, along with the lack of short-term clarity on the regulatory regime.  Then it was said that the remaining partners were fully committed to developing the interconnector.

Now, a fortnight later, it has been announced Vattenfall AB have also subsequently withdrawn.

The chairman of the project, Steven Vass, now believes it is possible the project could be cancelled. Norway's government want to put their state controlled grid operator Statnett in charge of all Norwegian interconnector projects.  

The reason the project could very possibly be cancelled is because Statnett has no interest in NorthConnect and therefore may prioritise projects in which it does have a stake - including its North Sea Network (NSN) joint venture with National Grid south of the border in England.  NSN proposes to build a line between Northumberland and Western Norway, which would potentially allow the rest of the UK to dominate green energy exporting in the event that Scotland voted for independence.

The National Grid says England and Wales could meet their renewable and carbon emissions targets without any contribution from Scotland.

Where does this leave Alex Salmond?  The erection of wind farms is causing more and more unrest within communities; so much so that civil servants are attempting to gag protestors.

Nearer home Angus Council have employed specialists to assess windfarm bids.  They have secured £75,000 of government funding which officials say should help speed up the determination process.  There has been nearly a five-fold increase in planning bids over just a few years in the county and the first large scale windfarm is now very visible on the Strathmore valley skyline, south of Glamis.

How environmentalists think the devastation of the countryside is beneficial in any way never ceases to astound.

Now that the NorthConnect project seems a non-starter, will the Scottish government start to reduce the vast numbers of windfarms being erected?  If England and Wales will be self-sufficient,  surely there is no reason to have more wind turbines than necessary for Scotland's use?

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Please Help Save Scotland

The Germans are arguing and it's not about the EU or immigration.  In June 2011 Angela Merkel's government launched a new energy policy which was prompted by the Fukushima nuclear power plant catastrophe in Japan.

Now the German environmental movements, the Green Party and the conservative Christian Democrats, are at loggerheads.  Many environmentalists want to see the expansion of renewable energies at any price but there is now a conflict because those who have been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the way things are going have decided they can keep quiet no longer.

What has happened is that the environmentalists role has changed from fighting road and rail projects to protecting birds and rare frog species.  Now they are forced to defend massive high-voltage power lines while being careful not to scare off their core environmentalist clientele, (those providing the basic funding).

A senior German politician claimed that investors in renewable energies were being 'serially harassed by the low-level regional nature-conservation authorities' and the state government wasn't helping to combat this.

According to the Speigel wind energy's fast growth has ended in Europe and nearly every country that subsidises renewable energy has been tinkering with changes or rewriting regulation.

At the moment the Scottish government continues to permit turbines to be built all over the beautiful Scottish scenery.  Soon the scenery on a journey from Perth to Edinburgh will include turbines for most of the trip and planning departments continue to approve applications very frequently.

I had no problem with small wind farms being built to aid small communities or a few major projects which would provide energy to the cities but do we want our famous and loved scenery to be blighted by turbines at every turn in the road?  I say no and concur with Rhona Weir's opinion. Rhona Weir is the widow of Tom Weir and is a great champion of the Scottish landscape.  You can hear an interview with her and windwiseradio here.

The petition to save our countryside is here and the deadline for signatures is this Friday, the 15 March.  I would ask you to contribute by adding your signature if you agree with Rhona Weir.

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Let The North Wind Blow

Originally three wind turbines were erected just north of the beautiful East Neuk of Fife village of Crail.

Now there are two left standing and both have bent blades.  The third is flat on the ground.

Mike Scott-Hayward saw the destruction on his way past the site on Saturday.

I'm assuming the damage was done by recent high winds and that the turbines are on agricultural land, because most applications with Fife Council show farming land as sites.  Having done a quick scan of wind turbine applications around Crail, the only one I could find was for a Lochton Farm which applied to erect 3 turbines in 2010.

There seems to be problems with turbines in this area and I know the east coast is definitely windy most of the time.  One of Mike's Facebook friends commented:

'The farmer opposite has a turbine and since it was erected which is less than a year ago, the developers have been back and forth like yo-yos sorting out problems and it's been on and off like the wind, A neighbour who is friends with the farmer said the latest problem was the pole cracked due to high winds!!'

Who will pay the bill for the repair of those turbines or will, in the long term, it come from the extra utilities tax we pay?  Quite possibly.

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Take Your Pick

Nestle KitKat Spat

The End of Britain

Living next to a wind farm

Sneer And Loathing In The UK

Why Ireland's new abortion law is mad

Steps Leading to the Stepping Stone of Independence (part 8)

Another year of madness

Al Gore gives Big-Oil-Government a TV channel and gets $100m in oil revenue

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Is Scotland's Renewables Policy Unrealistic?

Yesterday this part of Scotland was bathed in sunshine: a bright beginning to a New Year. There was little or no wind and although it was around 7 degrees at the height of the day, it felt warmer owing to the lack of the wind chill factor.

Unfortunately the lack of wind wasn't good news for a local small town which depends upon the wind blowing the turbines which decorate a nearby hillside.  The people of this town were bribed into accepting the wind farm by promises of considerable amounts of money, on a regular basis, for years to come.  I'm informed the monetary income has been far short of what was promised and the reason given to the townsfolk is that the 'right kind of wind hasn't blown often enough'.  The wind farm owners     have yet to explain what they mean by the 'right kind' of wind.

But the right kind of wind is possibly just one of their problems.  In a report by Professor Gordon Hughes of the University of Edinburgh, one of the UK's leading energy and environmental economists, one of his findings involved Scotland:

 Analysis of site-­specific performance reveals that the initial load factor of new UK onshore wind farms, normalized for wind availability and size, declined significantly from 2000 to 2011, especially in Scotland.  It seems that progressively worse sites are being developed.

His study highlights three important implications for wind generation policy.  The first suggests that the subsidies are too generous and should be cut. The second mentions the actual life-span of wind turbines which is 12-15 years.  I know the town here which bought into this particular market were sold it on the basis that the turbines would function for a minimum of 25 years.  Professor Hughes' report cuts that by 50%.

It's all well and good for the Scottish Government to have a target of 100% of Scotland's electricity consumption coming from renewables by 2020, but at what cost to Scotland's consumers?  Last month Ed Davey have a speech in Edinburgh where he stated that, in an independent Scotland, Scottish consumers would have to bear excessive costs for power.  Westminster scaremongering aside, he is not the first to say that costs would be even higher than currently, the Renewable Energy Foundation warned  the government a year ago that the impact on the Scottish consumer would be approximately £300 per household, of which about £140 would be for subsidy alone.

There's also the question of what happens to these turbines once their productive life is over. This should be addressed as soon as possible because planners need to start being honest with people who are affected by wind turbines.  The Scottish public should be told the cost of dismantling and disposing of these massive machines.  It could make the suggested £300 seem very optimistic.

Alex Salmond and his government must re-examine their energy policy now that further evidence is available regarding wind farms.  To allow further wind farm developments in the light of Professor Hughes' findings would be irresponsible.

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An Economic Analysis Politicians As Sure To Ignore

Wind turbines in Stirlingshire

My opinion of wind power is well known so there is no point in repeating it.

However I would like to draw attention to this article by Watts Up With That.

Dr Gordon Hughes is a Professor of Economics at the University of Edinburgh where he teaches courses in the Economics of Natural Resources ad Public Economics.

His full report on 'Why Is Wind Power So Expensive' is here.

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'The Wind Gives and the Wind Takes'

Alpha Ventus is currently the largest wind farm to be built under open-sea conditions. It is situated in the North Sea off the coast of Germany.

The Spiegel has an informative article on Germany's offshore wind turbine industry and in particular details of the installation of Alpha Ventus.  The base elements, which are as tall as buildings, were welded together in Scotland and Norway.  The tubes in the seafloor came from Rostock in north eastern Germany, the transformers from Regensburg in Bavaria and the rotor blade from Bremerhaven and Stade, near Hamburg.

Notice anything? As Alex Salmond remarked in his speech at the SNP conference on Saturday, it's a sad state of affairs when Scotland can't afford to develop and produce its own turbines and has to rely upon foreign companies for supplies.  The decision to bring Longannet to an abrupt halt is a massive blow to the fledgling offshore renewable industry and a decision which appears to have been taken for political rather than practical reasons.

Germany, like Scotland, has made a bet it can't afford to lose when it decided to at least partially replace nuclear with wind energy. But offshore energy production is an expensive business and each individual plant currently requires about 450 maintenance hours a year - far too much according to Ralf Klooster who is the supervising technician for an Alpha Ventus maintenance team.  The amount of time his ship's crew can work in a single stretch will be reduced to 10 hours soon and when that happens two crews will be needed for maintenance.  Costs will increase. Says Klooster: "They're not as strict about this in England."  I wonder if that also applies to Scotland.

The Spiegel article is written by a journalist who spent a day with Klooster and his team.  It certainly gives an insight into the offshore wind turbine industry.  A worthwhile read.

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Unclaimed Subsidies

click to enlarge

No matter how 'attractive' politicians try to make solar energy it would appear the average householder isn't falling for it.  Could it be that they don't believe the UK government?

Most Scots associate solar with sunshine and thus shun the high installation costs of domestic solar panel technology which they consider would be of little benefit. If solar was the way to go housing developments would be including solar in their designs.  They are not.

Add to that the fact that Scottish Renewables say they are being charged too much to connect to the electricity grid and the mounting opposition to wind farms being given the go-ahead around the north western edge of Scotland's largest national park and there's a serious threat to the Scottish government's renewables target.

Is Scotland - or the rest of Britain for that matter - benefitting from wind turbines?  No. Consumers are the losers because added to their energy bills is the cost of the huge amounts paid in subsidies to wind farm companies, two thirds of which are based abroad.  Businesses from Denmark, Japan, the US, Norway, Sweden, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany also own British wind farms and according to the Renewable Energy Foundation think tank from next year, £523m in subsidies will go to foreign companies.

Did I ask whether solar and wind energy will benefit domestic consumers in the future?  No I did not, because we all know the rip-off will continue and we're powerless (excuse the pun) to do anything about it.

source

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Wind Robbery

Our utility bills are to rise, of that there is no doubt and there is also no doubt that hidden within our bills is a charge towards green energy.  I think energy companies purposefully make their billing system complex to confuse the average consumer and thus they have been able to include green taxes without much public outcry.

But you can, according to moneysupermarket, switch to a green energy tariff which I presume would give intricate detail. Be aware if you switch that:

By switching to green energy you are likely to be spending more money. However, you will also be making a statement that you support renewable energy. If enough people make the switch then this could help to convince the Government to offer support to the industry.

Who could refuse such an invitation?

The global warmers or climate changers have been silent since recent climate scientists have published material which disproves their assessments that the world is becoming warmer, but politicians continue to stagger down the renewable path- a path lined with wind turbines.

This week Alex Salmond attended the official opening of two new wind farms in South Ayrshire.  He is determined that Scotland generates all electricity from renewable sources by 2020 - but he never mentions the cost to the consumer.

Wind turbines don't work in winter when ice and lack of wind render them redundant most of the time.  That being the case they should be at their peak on spring, breezy days.  They are. Research by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) and a must read, shows the constraint payments made to contracted power stations that agree to stop generating in order to stabilize the network.  A constraint happens when the National Grid is unable to absorb all the electricity being generated and those contracted to generate must be asked to stand down.

One occasion was during the first week of April when a number of Scottish wind farm contractors received payments - in some cases as high as 20 times the value of the electricity which would have otherwise been generated.  In total approximately £890,000 was paid over a few hours to six wind farms and these costs will ultimately be passed on to the consumer. Wind farms are subsidised to the tune of £50-£55 per MWh but the National Grid, although obliged to pay to reduce output, has no standard MWh rate.  The graphic shows the Farr wind farm was paid £800 per MWh to reduce output in April, nearly 16 times the value of the subsidy foregone.

The single most expensive day in terms of payouts was 24 May when seven wind farms were shut down for a total of 69 hours with a compensation payout of £613,000.  Turbines were switched off again on 1 and 2 June but that cost has yet to be calculated.

John Swinney showed great angst at Scottish Power's announcement last week that bills were to rise roughly 15%.  SP insisted it was the cost of oil which was responsible.  Not a word about this exorbitant waste of power and the financial cost to end-users. Is it any wonder when these few days have cost Scottish consumers £1,503,000.

For years Scotland has paid highly to connect to the National Grid but politicians have been unable to resolve the issue. This is too serious a matter not to have been resolved before we started erecting wind farms throughout the countryside under the pretext that we would be self-efficient in power within 10 years. We may be self-sufficient but why are we throwing away valuable power and allowing wind farm owners/suppliers to rob us blind?

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The Beginning of the End for the Green Energy Movement

Public carbon trading is now dead in the USA says Watts Up With That?  The Chicago Carbon Exchange has closed with a closing price of a nickel per ton of CO2.

To add to the misery of the green movement, huge new discoveries in gas, oil and rare mineral deposits see major investors and governments bail out of a collapsing green energy movement.  In December pro-green Spain slashed funding for wind projects by 35% and declared photovoltaic plants would be cut by 45%.  France then announced a four-month freeze on all solar projects.  Then Germany announced it may discontinue the solar industry's sweetheart tariffs in 2012.  The German Energy Agency called for Germany's drive towards solar to be 'cut back quickly and drastically'.

According to the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), Dr faith Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, told an assembled London audience that it was now 'impossible' to meet targets to restrict agreed limits on emissions of carbon dioxide.  She conceded that as the eco-energy market stumbles the traditional energy sources show a sudden surge in reserves and blames the shale gas boom in the US that has led to a 50% drop in investment in renewable energy.

"There's suddenly much more gas available in the world than previously thought."



One notable investor at the head of the rush is Bill Gates who thinks that there is better money to be made in advanced oil exploration technologies.

China's vice-minister of land and resources announced at a national conference in Beijing earlier this month that Chinese geologists have detected 'super-thick' oil and gas-bearing stratums in the northern part of the South China Sea.  The ministry confirmed that new finds had also increased the reserves of iron and aluminum by 41% and 39% compared with the levels of 1999.  China is the world's biggest consumer of coal, steel, alumina, copper and cement and rare metals, particularly neodymium, associated with the production of wind farms.

New research from Brazil further suggests experts are changing their opinions over the concept of 'peak energy'.  Oil deposits have been discovered below a layer of salt in the Atlantic Ocean holding at least 123 billion barrels of reserves which are more than double previous government estimates.

More oil has been found in the North Sea and the Scottish-based company Cairn Energy continues successfully around Greenland and elsewhere.

Such news must make uncomfortable reading for environmentalists and green investors, who may be tempted to cut and run, causing carbon trading businesses to collapse. The closure of the Chicago Carbon Exchange is only the beginning.

Update:  Just prior to publication I noticed a fellow blogger has expanded the neodymium issue with his usual vitality.  The Scottish government should take note.

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