UK energy policy must change, say Ramblers Scotland

The Ramblers in Scotland have given a cautious welcome to the opening to a massive windfarm south of Glasgow.

But the organisation warned that the authorities cannot continue to allow a succession of developments on the scale of the Whitelee site, whose turbines cover a swathe of hillside between East Kilbride and Kilmarnock in East Renfrewshire. The turbines will provide up to 322MW of power for 180,000 homes, according to their owners.

Dave Morris, director of Ramblers Scotland said: “This is a massive development, involving 140 turbines each over 100m tall spread over 55 sq km [21 sq miles].

“We are turning a large area of countryside into a semi-urban, industrialised landscape, with more to come with planning approval already given for further turbines on adjacent ground. Whitelee is better called a wind factory, not a windfarm.

“Whitelee will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to the development of Scotland’s renewable energy capacity and its location, close to Glasgow, means that it is near to centres of demand and easily integrated into the existing electricity transmission network.

“Furthermore, we acknowledge that the development will establish a large network of roads between the wind turbines which will be available for outdoor recreation users along with other roads and paths provided by the developers. This, however, is not the priority; we need new paths for walking and cycling to join together our local communities across the country. This is far more important than paths joining together large numbers of giant wind turbines.”

First Minister Alex Salmond today joined Scottish Power’s chairman Ignacio Galán to celebrate the completion of Whitelee Windfarm, Europe’s largest onshore wind power project.

The company, part the Iberdrola Group, says the CO₂ saving will be 500,000 tonnes a year. It also points out that roads on site have been specially laid so as not to break the surface of peat areas and disrupt the flow of natural water courses. The roads are constructed with stone taken from the site on top of layers of geogrid – polymer reinforcement material.

Mr Salmond said: “Our potential for electricity generation from renewables is up to 60GW – more than ten times our peak demand.

“We have launched the world’s greatest single prize for innovation in marine energy, the £10 million Saltire Prize; we are developing and applying clean fossil fuel technology; we have an unrivalled competitive advantage in carbon capture and storage; we have approved Siadar, one of the largest wave energy projects on the planet; as well as developing and consenting hydro and biomass projects. Harnessing all these opportunities has the potential to create more than 16,000 jobs in Scotland over the next decade.

“Whitelee in its current form is already flying the flag for onshore wind power in Europe. The planned extension, which I am delighted to announce today, will enable the windfarm to harness its comparative and competitive advantage in wind generated energy within Europe. It has the infrastructure, the expertise and the capacity to continue to develop in the future.”

But Dave Morris warned that energy policy across the UK needs to change dramatically. He said: “We cannot go on depending on massive land based wind factories to meet our future renewable energy targets.

“Existing UK energy policy will require an incredible 600 Whitelees to be built by 2050. That would cover an area of land the size of Wales.

“Hundreds of giant turbines and their associated electricity transmission lines must not be built on the land of Scotland. We cannot sacrifice the world famous wildness and beauty of Scotland in order to meet the energy demands of southern Britain.

“It must be made clear to the UK Government that planning approval will be refused by the Scottish Government and local authorities for many more Whitelees. The future for giant turbines lies offshore, with much smaller, community based wind turbine developments forming the basis for onshore development

“Iberdrola/Scottish Power is not building Whitelee as a charitable venture. It can expect massive profits based on the public funding support provided by the Renewables Obligation.

“We need the UK Government to change this subsidy so that, on land the primary aim is to support small scale community development, with the main commercial support being redirected towards off shore wind, wave and tidal development with associated subsea transmission cables.

“The Scottish Government can start that redirection process by refusing planning permission for the proposed Beauly Denny powerline and making clear that most future long distance electricity transmission will be by subsea cables, not through massive overland pylons.”

90km (56 miles) of roads were built as part of the project, with 970km (603 miles) of cables laid at the site to connect the turbines. 96 dumper-trucks were used during construction.