EVAG - 24-09-11: Wasteful wind turbines
- 19-09-11 two thirds of wind farms are foreign-owned
- 13-09-11: SNP warned of ‘White Elephant’ Power Plan
- 13-09-11: High winds lead UK to halt turbines for 3rd night
- 08-09-11: Wind Energy Does Little to Reduce CO2 Emissions
- 24-08-11: Opinion: The renewables sector is more about money than energy
- 21-08-11: The aristocrats cashing in on Britain's wind farm subsidies
- 09-08-11: The Renewable Rape of Scotland
This Is Leicestershire 24-09-11 By Roger Helmer, MEP, Conservative, East Midlands.
In a bizarre PR stunt, the developers of the Low Spinney wind farm, near Lutterworth, propose to name their four 400ft turbines individually (Mercury, September 19).
In a helpful and constructive spirit, I'd like to offer my suggestions. Let's call them Wasteful, Inefficient, Needless and Detrimental. Together they spell "WIND".
Wind turbines deliver an intermittent trickle of very expensive electricity.
The operators receive vast subsidies (even when the wind farms, for technical reasons, are turned off). Not a single wind turbine would have been built in Britain without the massive subsidies, which are paid by us – the consumers.. more
As if their ugliness isn't bad enough, now it's revealed two thirds of wind farms are foreign-owned
As if their ugliness isn't bad enough, now it's revealed two thirds of wind farms are foreign-owned
Two thirds of wind turbines in Britain are owned by foreign firms – netting them millions of pounds in taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Of the 3,419 turbines, no fewer than 2,276 are either fully or partly owned by companies which are based abroad.
It means that more than half a billion pounds in generous incentives offered by the Government is going overseas every single year – at a time when many public services are facing the axe.
Foreign-owned: Figures have shown that more than two thirds of wind turbines are owned by foreign firms, while it has also emerged some are being paid to not produce electricity. The huge amount paid in subsidy is added to household energy bills, which are set to soar this winter.
Foreign wind farm companies are keen to invest in Britain because we have the windiest climate in Europe – meaning they can reap huge profits.
The Coalition insists the incentives offered are no more generous than those in other EU countries.
Last night a former chancellor said it was wrong that so much government money should be being picked up by foreign companies. Lord Lawson, chairman of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, said: ‘[Wind farms are] absolutely pointless, extremely damaging both for the British economy and for British consumers..
SNP warned of ‘White Elephant’ Power Plan
THE Scottish Government has placed its ambition to transform the nation into a low-carbon economy at the heart of its new strategy for growth.
But experts have warned the commitment to creating a renewable energy powerhouse could be a "white elephant" and that millions of pounds in subsidies pouring into the sector are unjustified
The reliance on wind farms and marine energy are the new priority in the growth programme set out by finance secretary John Swinney yesterday.. more
High winds lead UK to halt turbines for 3rd night
(Reuters) - Britain's energy network operator National Grid stopped a number of wind turbines in Scotland for a third consecutive night on Monday, the operator said, as high winds threatened to cause an overload in power output and block the grid.
"There was some curtailment again last night due to high wind generation and low demand - 650 MW (megawatts), about 13 wind farms," a spokesman for National Grid said.
On Saturday and Sunday night, 750 MW and 300 MW of wind capacity was shut down as remnants of hurricane Katia hit the British mainland, creating wind speeds of 75-80 miles per hour.
When high power output from wind farms, mainly located in Scotland, coincides with low electricity demand periods at night, the local transmission network overloads. In these scenarios National Grid cuts off a number of wind farms to ease congestion.. more
Wind Energy Does Little to Reduce CO2 Emissions
Here is an important article regarding wind energy not reducing CO2 on grids. The article is based on 2 studies using measured, real-time operations data of the Colorado, Texas and Irish grids, all with significant wind penetration. The studies show increases of CO2/kWh due to adding wind energy to electric grids.
For some years wind turbines were presented to the public as renewable energy producers that would reduce the CO2 emissions from fossil plants, because less fossil fuels would be burnt, while making the US less dependent on energy imports from unstable regions
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Opinion: The Renewables Sector is more about Money than Energy
Many of us continue to look on aghast at Scotland’s headlong rush down the renewable energy cul-de-sac. The Scottish government seems to have embraced the renewable agenda almost without question, and has made increasingly ambitious claims for the booming sector and Scotland’s place in it.
We have been told that Scotland can produce the “equivalent” of 100 per cent of its electricity requirements (what exactly does that mean?) from renewable sources by 2020, and that up to 130,000 jobs can be created by the renewables industry
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The Aristocrats Cashing in on Britain's Wind Farm Subsidies
They
are among the nation's wealthiest aristocrats, whose families have
protected the British landscape for centuries. Until now that is.
For
increasing numbers of the nobility – among them dukes and even a cousin
of the Queen – are being tempted by tens of millions of pounds offered
by developers to build giant wind farms on their estates.
An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph reveals how generous subsidies – that are added to consumer energy bills – are encouraging hereditary landowners to build turbines up to 410ft tall on their land
.. more
An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph reveals how generous subsidies – that are added to consumer energy bills – are encouraging hereditary landowners to build turbines up to 410ft tall on their land
.. more
Scottish Conservatives European Parliament Struan Stevenson 09-08-2011
Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson has lent his whole-hearted support to a campaign by Communities Against Turbines (Scotland) against the scandal of industrial wind developments in Scotland..
The Financial Scandal
Let me start with the financial scandal of industrial wind developments. There are currently around 3,500 turbines operating in the UK with a capacity to generate 5.5 gigawatts of energy. Another 1200 are under construction and around 2000 more have planning permission. A further 3,500 are in the planning pipeline. Britain will soon be bristling with these giant turbines. There will be few places left in our countryside from which you will not be able to see a massive turbine and its associated pylons and overhead lines. The installed cost of these 3,500 turbines that are already operating amounts to a staggering £7 billion and yet they can produce little more electricity than a medium sized gas or coal-fired power station. This is an escalating financial scandal which threatens to undermine the whole energy sector.