Wind farm

Representatives of Airtricity had been invited to the Clydebelt's 12th November 2002 meeting to answer questions on their wind farm proposal. Development Manager Steve Cowie did most of the talking. After a brief presentation with diagrams, he responded to questions. These notes summarise the responses.

Timing
The planning application may now be delayed until January 2003.

The turbines would probably be built up over two seasons, taking about 10 months. Using and moving the mobile crane would be the slowest step. The turbines may be manufactured in Campbelltown.
The wind farm is planned to have a 25 year lifetime, and there would be a bond to fund decommissioning after 25 years, although they may ask for an extension.

Policy
This application has been encouraged by the government aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase the percentage of energy produced in a renewable way. The proportion is intended to increase from 3% to 10% by 2010. He expects wind power to be a fair proportion - the market would decide which renewables prevail. It would be good If we could meet objectives of reduced emissions by improving energy efficiency, but we still will have to generate some electricity and that should be done in a clean way to increase the proportion of generation by renewables.

It is not an " either/or " choice - many methods can be used. Wind power is considered to be the most effective investment at present compared with hydro, wave, and nuclear generation.

To meet the larger targets (15 - 200MW in Scotland) wind farms will be spread more widely, including many "near to people's doorsteps". Some local authorities have joined-up planning thinking on wind farms, others just respond to individual applications.

A member objected that Scotland generates 10/15% more energy than needed within Scotland, therefore spoiling the landscape to export electricity.

There is no capital subsidy for constructing wind farms, the only subsidy is on electricity generation. The landowner would receive the usual rate, about 2.5% of the income.

A member said that wind farms would be far better along motorways than in precious landscape. Airtricity are looking at some sites on the M8, but generation would cost 5/6p per kilowatt-hour if on a lowland industrial site, which compares badly with coal at about 5p/KWh.

The site
Airtricity had looked at 300 potential sites. None was simple, all having issues to be resolved. The ranking is very subjective, attempting to consider technical issues (access to the grid and the site, willingness of landowners, wind speed...), and environmental issues (ecology, birds, noise, landscape...).

A member said this would be in the middle of the part of the hills most visited by walkers. He responded that if it were on the edge of the hills it would be more visible from outside. He believes that recreational access would be made easier by this development, and has discussed it with WDC's Access Officer.

When asked " isn't this poor use of agricultural land? " he replied that the current use is for grazing, which could still carry on around the turbines.

Members were very concerned about bird strikes and the impact of disturbance on raptors. He accepted that this is very important. For this planning application most time and money has been spent on issues of birds and landscaping.

The Environmental Statement is still being prepared by Land Use Consultants.

Appearance
He expects people to agree that fewer but larger turbines are better than smaller but many. The turbines being proposed are the biggest that are feasible now, 60 metres high to the hub and 80m to the tip of the blade.

The foundations would be large concrete bases or rock anchors and would cover about 10% of the wind farm land. The concrete would be grassed over up to the bottom of the towers. It would be a condition of the bond to remove the concrete to one metre below the ground.

The road access needs to be about 4.5m wide, being about 3m wide now. They would need to reduce the steepest gradient, taking off 4/5m for 20m or more. The tarmac part of the road would be replaced. There was concern about ongoing maintenance - Airtricity would pay for this.

Interconnection to the grid would be underground. Burns would be culverted as far as possible. The Hydrology is currently still being studied.

The substation would need security lighting.

Stone would be taken mainly from nearby quarries.

Noise
The noise level is determined by the tip speed. This would be about 17/18 rpm for the larger machines, producing much less noise than earlier turbines. He believes that people would struggle to hear the turbines at a distance of 800m and the nearest house is 2.5km. Several members argued that some are nearer, or in a direct sound path.

Outcome of meeting
After thanks, the visitors left. The committee had not been persuaded to modify our intention to object, mainly on the grounds of location, although committee members had several other particular objections.