Not so green
Letters | The Herald | www.heraldscotland.com
You report on SSE Renewable`s new Viking wind farm near Shetland. As usual, there will be little use of Scottish labour and the turbines themselves will be installed and manufactured by a foreign company, in this case Vestas from Denmark (“SSE Renewables hires Danish turbine maker for £580m Shetland wind farm”, Herald Business, August 20). We are, as always, advised that some work will be offered to local labour but by far, the bulk of the turbine installation and manufacture goes to other countries.
Wind turbines are always being promoted as green energy, but no thought has been given to the amount of fossil fuel used in their manufacture nor transport and installation. Another major cost, overlooked on all of their promotion, is the cost of decommissioning after the 20 to 25-year lifespan and the subsequent disposable of currently unrecyclable turbine blades, the bulk being taken to landfill.
George Dale, Beith.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/08/24/not-so-green/