Wind farms not the solution  

Credit:  The Northern Scot, www.northern-scot.co.uk 17 March 2012 ~~

People are deluding themselves if they think the country’s energy problems will be solved by wind farms.

That was the message from the guest speaker at Elgin Community Council.

Bob Graham has been campaigning against wind farms for 10 years.

The talk was organised following plans to build a 19-turbine wind farm at Brown Muir were unveiled.

The community council is opposed to the development.

Mr Graham said the 325 wind farms in the UK produced the equivalent energy to three large coal or gas power stations.

“If these sites stopped generating, not a light would go out, he said.

“If the three power stations go out large parts of the country go out.”

Mr Graham added that power stations were required to provide back-up for wind farms.

He drew comparisons with the turbines proposed at Brown Muir, which are approximately 410ft tall, with those at the Glens of Foundland along the A96 in Aberdeenshire that stand at 250ft.

If approved the Brown Muir turbines would only be about 30ft shorter than the London Eye.

Mr Graham added that house prices and tourism were affected by wind farms, and that noise and construction traffic also caused problems.

He disputed that large numbers of jobs would be created, and said funds given to communities from wind farm developers fell into insignificance compared to the government subsidies received by companies.

Mr Graham said people were “deluding” themselves if they thought the country could be run completely on green energy.

The Moray Joint Community Council has arranged an event to discuss wind farms.

It will be held in the New Elgin Hall on Saturday, May 12.