Wind can only be a marginal contributor
The Courier, www.thecourier.co.uk 23 December 2011
In his letter of December 21, Graham Brown of Burcote Wind accuses those who disagree with him of being “a vociferous but ill-informed minority”.
Let me assure Mr Brown that I am far from being “ill-informed”. I am an engineering graduate who openly challenges his assertion that the 25% loss of generating capacity, through the closure of nuclear and coal-fired generating plants within the next few years, can be replaced by wind turbine electricity generation.
That claim is absurd nonsense – even the renewables lobby organisation, Scottish Renewables, does not make such a ludicrous claim. Where I do agree with him is in the fact that the “UK is facing an energy crisis” – a result of governments focusing entirely on renewables as our sole environmental saviour and ignoring sensible and pragmatic alternatives – aided and encouraged by the likes of Mr Brown, who has an obvious and vested interest.
It is long past time when we should be investing in shorter term gas-fired generation (fuelled by shale gas) and longer term nuclear (of the more modern and less waste producing type) and, more importantly, accepting that wind energy, and similar renewables, can only be a marginal contributor to overall electricity generation.
(Dr) G. M. Lindsay.
Whinfield Gardens,
Kinross.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/12/23/wind-can-only-be-a-marginal-contributor/