filed: July 19, 2011 • Letters, Scotland

Wind power is very far from free

Credit: www.heraldscotland.com 19 July 2011 ~~

The majestic hills above Loch Ness are to be despoiled with more than 200 useless wind turbines (“Turbines will ruin tourism, say ramblers,” The Herald, July 16).

Ludicrously generous Renewable Obligation Certificates mean that power companies and landowners are awash with subsidy as they scramble to meet the Scottish Government’s target of 80% electricity from renewables by 2020.

Meanwhile, electricity consumers must watch in horror as their bills soar. The myth perpetrated by the Government that they are harvesting the benefits of “free wind” could not be further from the truth.

Worse still, far from being free, this trickle of wind-generated electricity is twice as expensive as nuclear, gas or coal-fired plants which provide us with 90% of our needs and will lead to a doubling or even trebling of our energy bills.

Isn’t it strange that there are no giant turbines desecrating the Pentland Hills or Arthur’s Seat? Politicians jumping on the renewables bandwagon don’t want their own view from Holyrood besmirched.

Struan Stevenson,

Conservative MEP for Scotland,

The European Parliament

Rue Wiertz, Brussels.

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