Wild Land News no 62, Winter 2004/2005

Developments in Renewable Energy since March 2004 Article

An update by Fiona Anderson

The six monthly account in this magazine of the hundreds of turbines and scores of windfarms proposed in Scotland, submitted, objected to, altered, called in, and their related power lines and preceding masts, has become more than a bit repetitive. (This period alone reveals 340 and 13 respectively within an 18 mile radius of Perth.) Readers will have well and truly understood by now the nature of the threat that they are posing to the unique landscapes of Scotland, and more particularly to its wild land. Consequently this time I propose to mention only the most significant information that has come forward in the last 6 months, mainly concerning plans, or lack of them, and policy reports.

No strategic policy

At the end of June the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee published a report Renewable Energy in Scotland which calls on the Scottish Executive to produce a "fully fledged" energy policy for Scotland. The dominance of onshore wind power over other forms of RE has caused concern and is due to the lack of a national strategic framework. The report calls for strengthening of the planning system to deal with windfarm proliferation and asks that the executive issue clearer guidance. Yet a spokesman for the Executive rejected a call by the Green Party and Friends of the Earth, both strong supportes of RE, to adopt a more strategic approach to developments. "A regional strategy is unnecessary. It is far too early to look at the levels of capacity that individual areas of Scotland might be expected to accommodate in order to meet our national targets. This would act as an additional constraint and might lead to perfectly credible developments being stifled." And in September, after criticism of Highland Council for backing plans for 17 turbines affecting Dornoch Firth NSA at Beinn Tharsuinn, Easter Ross, the Planning Director said "there is no such thing as a no-go area ...under Scottish Executive policy each application has to be judged on its merits, and in an NSA the social and economic benefits have to be considered alongside scenic impact." The Planning Committee Chairman admitted "We desperately need a master-plan from the Executive setting out no-go areas and places where it might be possible to have wind farms."

That is just what happened in Wales in July when the Welsh Assembly published a draft Technical Advice Note outlining seven strategic areas seen as most suitable for large-scale wind farm development. They have been chosen so as to avoid national parks, AONBs (Areas of outstanding natural beauty), wildlife designations, common land etc. The Environment and Economic Development Ministers jointly stressed that the list does not mean that applications to build wind farms in the areas identified will automatically be approved, nor that wind farms can never be built in other areas. This could surely be done for Scotland.

Alternatives to wind energy

The Scottish Parliament's committee report also recommended that a comprehensive Scottish energy policy be created in co-operation with Westminster, to seek to shift the focus from large onshore windfarms to other forms of renewable power in order to meet longer term targets. " Scotland has real potential to develop leading edge technology for wave and tidal power. The focus on wind power is depriving other technologies of much needed investment." A month later a House of Lords Science and Technology committee report also urged the government to use a wider range of RE sources. The public needs more than consultation to be persuaded to support renewables.

In May a landscape capacity report was produced by consultants, commissioned by SNH for the Western Isles RE Partnership, to assess and map the visibility of different sizes of turbines and developments from a range of different viewpoints in the barren landscapes of the Western Isles. It concluded that in uninhabited areas boggy and rocky moorland could accommodate more turbines than mountain, rock and lochan landscapes; dispersed siting could result in relatively localised visibility effects; while a cumulative effect of several developments, concentrated siting policies or very large developments could result in major character changes.

Local guidelines

In June both Borders and Perth and Kinross Councils approved guidelines for wind farm development, both based on consultants' studies. The former recognised that turbines with a blade-tip height of 100 metres will dominate the landscape up to 2.5kms, will still visually intrude up to 5kms, and will have a moderate effect up to 7.5kms away. The latter examined three of the most sensitive areas with high potential for development, including the Ochil Hills where it concluded that any windfarm of commercial scale would be inappropriate. A single development of smaller turbines in a compact layout may be acceptable, subject to landscape and visual assessments. Both studies will now be incorporated into development plans.

The Ramblers Association suggested three changes to the policy for Perthshire: a presumption against any turbines taller than 50m; a stronger recognition of the value of wild land in the area and a presumption against development on moorland/rough grassland; a stronger presumption in favour of brownfield sites, cultivated land or forestry.

Two Community Councils near Farr in Inverness-shire have been offered £1m upfront payment as well as £1157 per megawatt generated annually by the developer, Npower Renewables. This is the largest payment yet offered in the UK.

Transmission lines

The Shetland RE Forum has been told that the Northern Isles could provide far more green energy than the whole of Scotland needs to meet government targets because of the tidal potential of the Pentland Firth and because there are relatively few anti-wind farm protesters. They could have large-scale windfarms in Shetland by 2008/9 but it is no good getting power to the mainland unless the cables could be laid across Scotland to the central belt.

The revised route for the 400,000 volt National Grid transmission line between Beauly in Easter Ross and Denny in Stirlingshire will involve further consultations by Scottish and Southern Electricity to consider further options for the 5 most contentious sections. Undergrounding has been ruled out because of cost and environmental disruption. Ullapool Community Council are objecting to it north of Beauly. The action group Highlands Before Pylons is to lobby for use of less invasive undersea routes and will ask for a valuation of the loss of amenity and potential tourist revenue. They have written to ask SNH board members to clarify their role in approving transmission lines that affect wild land as OFGEM the electricity regulator does not appear to have a remit to consider the environment. An MSP acknowledged that upgrading the grid is essential if we are to tackle climate change, but we need to make sure we go about it the right way

A new political organisation, Scottish Wind Watch, has been launched in Scotland to campaign at the European elections against the spate of windfarms in the country and to stimulate debate about "what is being planned for our wild places."

Scottish ministers are to be given consent powers in a Westminster Energy Bill to approve projects in new RE zones beyond the 12-mile limit in waters around Scotland. Funding was announced in September for a sizeable demonstration project to build a wind farm of up to 200 turbines in the Beatrice Field, Moray Firth in water depths of 35-45m. However, the UK government believes that 95% of its latest offshore windfarm licenses could be hit by legal challenges from the RSPB. RSPB says the government needs to do more to understand where there might be problems and to steer windfarm developments away from these areas. Developers are furious after RSPB involvement in many rounds of consultation, and Greenpeace says its position is very unhelpful for the drive towards renewables.

Many commentators, including the Chairman of the Royal Society and Brian Wilson, former Energy Minister, believe the longer-term goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050 is simply not possible without the nuclear option. Speaking on Climate Change, Tony Blair, said the government has not "closed the door" on this option.