Still not fans of turbine power
South Wales Evening Post, www.thisissouthwales.co.uk 16 February 2012
South Wales Evening Post, www.thisissouthwales.co.uk 16 February 2012
This newspaper’s scepticism about the benefits of wind turbines is not based on their visual appearance.
We know that while many people find them ugly and intrusive, others like the way they look. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.
We would argue that those in the anti-turbine camp should accept them IF we were convinced that they make a significant difference to our need for conventional power stations.
But we are not. And we are not persuaded by Welsh Government Environment Minister John Griffiths’s argument in today’s edition.
Even on his own figures, wind turbines are not generating energy for 30 per cent of the time. And that includes times of maximum need, when the country is enveloped by intensely cold but utterly still air from Siberia or the Arctic.
Mr Griffiths tries to make an economic case for the wind energy industry, but he knows the huge subsidies available are producing millions in profits for the foreign companies that dominate the business, not for local firms.
So we remain sceptics despite the government’s and the energy companies’ PR campaigns.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/16/still-not-fans-of-turbine-power/