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Wind farm problems
Credit: www.midsussextimes.co.uk 7 April 2012 ~~
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The Middy report, March 22, on the offshore wind farm proposal, was so one sided, it was like a press release from the developer E.On.
Wind energy spoils the natural landscape and disturbs lives, but there are many further reasons for objecting to it. It damages the local environment, and fails to live up to promises that it will save the planet from climate change. It is extremely expensive, and there are serious questions about the relationship between politicians and wind energy companies. Although energy bills are rising, and millions of people are suffering the consequences, politicians continue to support wind energy, leading to an inevitable deepening of the problems experienced by people in their daily lives.
Some people believe that off-shore wind farms are “out of sight, out of mind”. But off-shore wind farms are not out of sight. These huge turbines rise 656ft, unnaturally out of the sea, and the movement of their blades makes them all the more visible for dozens of miles along the coast. In fog and other bad weather, wind turbines create a hazard to navigation.
Off-shore wind farms don’t merely cause the destruction of wonderful views, they are hazardous to wild life. According to the RSPB, wind turbines cause collisions, displacement from habitat or disruption of food resources, and diversion of major flight routes. Beneath the surface, wind turbine developments cause ecological disruption.
There are plans for vast arrays of wind turbines in UK waters, stretching across many hundreds of square miles. The environmental costs of these plans cannot be calculated. The UK’s fishing industry, which has been damaged by EU regulations, will be forced away from important fishing grounds by the physical and environmental effects of many thousands of wind turbines.
Then there are the technical problems. A wind turbine at sea is no more efficient than its already pathetic on-shore counterpart, but installing off-shore wind turbines is more difficult, and thus more expensive. In order to encourage developers to invest in off-shore wind, the Government promises them even greater subsidies, which are added to your electricity bill.
Putting wind farms off-shore does nothing to resolve the problems of wind energy. From any perspective, an off-shore wind farm is at least as bad as an on-shore wind farm. Hiding wind turbines out at sea won’t conceal the fact that the UK is likely to end up with the most expensive and least reliable energy supply in the developed world.
Chris French,
Chairman, UKIP Mid Sussex,
Firtoft Close,
Burgess Hill
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