Jenny Haworth quotes Henning von Barsewisch, from REpower (your report, 21 June), as though he is the messiah of renewable energy.
There is no mention of the fact that Germany, despite having more than 22,000 wind turbines, has not reduced its output and has plans for 26 coal-fired power stations to provide back-up. Germany also recently commissioned three new gas-fired power stations.
E.ON, another German energy giant, stated recently we will need at least 90 per cent of any installed wind capacity available in conventional generation, negating the purpose of these turbines.
On 14 June, Ms Haworth reported that the “Carraig Gheal wind farm near Kilchrenan in Argyll and Bute alone will be able to power 32,000 homes, about a third of the houses in Argyll and Bute”. However, this wind farm, and all the other large developments, cannot supply electricity to any home. The national grid requires “despatchable” electricity, not the intermittent variety that comes from wind power.
The SNP has taken up where Labour left off, with the gradual, and systematic destruction of Scotland’s countryside with industrial wind farms that cannot generate reliable electricity or make the remotest difference to climate change.
BOB GRAHAM
Craigsview
Orton, Inverness-shire
24 June 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/06/24/its-an-ill-wind/