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The Scottish Government has embarked on a consultation on their Energy Strategy (click on link above).
They are also consulting on a 'Draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement' (consultation page). Laughably, this document claims that Scottish Government-commissioned research shows that "there are no consistent negative effects on house prices and in some instances the price effect was positive" (p. 22). This is contradicted by authoritative UK, Danish and American academic research and contradicts findings of the Danish Energy Agency, the UK Valuation Office Agency and Advertising Standards Authority (see our Housing Page).
Let them know what you think!
Both consultations close on 30 May, 2017.
There is an interesting analysis of the weaknesses of the Scottish Government's argument on the Energy Matters website.
Press & Journal, 15 February, 2017.
'It is now "almost impossible" to find a mountain from which a wind farm cannot be seen, according to a senior mountaineering figure.
'David Gibson, chief executive of Mountaineering Scotland, revealed his fears about the "onslaught" of onshore wind developments on the world-famous landscape of the Highlands.
'He said the representative body was supportive of renewable energy but said forms of development are needed which protect the mountain landscape.
'Mr Gibson said: "Our members' primary interest is in mountains and it is almost impossible now to find a mountain from which a wind farm cannot be seen.
'"Protection exists in planning policy for national parks and national scenic areas, but not for mountain areas outside, which are of passionate interest to our members and others who seek adventure, and the health and wellbeing benefits such venues provide.
'"The pressure on the mountains is increasing and arguably so is the adverse impact on tourism."
'Mr Gibson highlighted the example of the Creag Riabhach windfarm which was the first development given permission by the Scottish Government which breached the boundary of the national wild land map.
'Mr Gibson said: "Creag Riabhach is unwelcome not just because of its impact on Sutherland's fantastic landscape, which will be diminished substantially if the development goes ahead also as a ministerial decision taken without reference to a democratic appeal or inquiry.
'"Importantly, the decision lowered the protective bar for wild land and was taken against the advice of the government's own advisors Scottish Natural Heritage.
'"We call on the Minister to honour the pledge to 'afford significant protection' to wild land areas, before our wonderful open landscapes are scarred forever. He should reject such future developments."
Two-thirds of windfarm applications rejected by local authorities had been overturned by the Scottish Government in 2016 (as of 7 November).
Of the 17 appeals submitted to and ruled upon by ministers in Edinburgh, 11 had been allowed, with the Scottish Government backing councils on just 6 occasions.
The SNP has been consistently criticised for obsessing with wind energy at the expense of other sources.
Communities across Scotland have complained about too many turbines spoiling local landscapes, while some councils have even asked for moratoriums to be put in place to cope with the flood of planning applications.
Yet despite claiming to respect local democracy, SNP ministerrs have repeatedly overruled decisions made by local councillors and planners, ignoring local plans and the advice of Scottish Natural Heritage and other expert advisory bodies in many cases.
On top of the 11 windfarm applications overturned in 2016, Scottish Government planning reporters have been even more likely to wave through appeals for solitary turbine applications.
Of the 10 applications submitted, the Scottish Government has sided with the local authorities on only three occasions.
Scottish Conservatives say this is more evidence of prioritising wind energy over more reliable energy sources, and centralising decisions that should be made locally.
It is reported that,"SNP ministers are planning a major assault on Scotland's town halls, forcing councils to relinquish power over crucial areas of public life."
Confidential proposals, which are being discussed at the highest levels of government, propose merging some services and forcing Councils to devolve some functions down to local areas and hand over others to central government.
The Times suggests that these changes are to be introduced after local government elections, when, the Government hopes, more councils will be under SNP control.
'SNP's wind energy 'obsession' criticised', Berwickshire News, 11 November, 2016.
'Councils to be stripped of powers in local government revolution', The Times (Paywalled), 11 November, 2016.
German-owned speculative wind developers Energiekontor submitted an application on 5 January, 2017, for 12 turbines, 7 up to 158.5m, and 5 up to 130m, on the Pines Burn site, near Hawick. The site is on the Harwood Estate, approximately 7.5km south east of Hawick, and 5km south west of Bonchester Bridge.
The Birneyknowe Wind Farm application is approximately 4km north of the site. Planning permission has been granted for three masts to the south in Wauchope Forest, the closest of which would be approximately 3km from the proposed development.
SBC Ref. 17/00010/FUL.
Developer website.
'Concerns voiced over size of wind turbines proposed near Bonchester Bridge',Hawick News, 27 January, 2017.
KEY: Yellow - Pre-application; Red - Planning Application; Green - Consented/Under construction; Blue - Operating; White - refused/withdrawn/abandoned/derelict. Large markers with a black spot represent 'Section 36' applications (over 50MW nominal capacity, decided by government).
Dots represent so-called 'farm turbines', under 100m. These may be larger than turbines in first and second generation turbine arrays, are often owned by speculative developers, not the landowner, and frequently do not contribute to farm supplies.
Turbines smaller than 30m (100 ft)are not recorded. Many 15-30m turbines have been built or consented in the Scottish Borders.
We welcome corrections of any errors you may find.
Energy analyst Euan Mearns recently gave a fascinating talk at the Scottish Oil Club in Edinburgh. The slide deck from the presentation is available as a PDF download.
The Energy Matters website has a post which presents the key parts of Eaun's talk, using 14 of the 36 slides.
Energy Matters, 28 November, 2016.
'Reactor 1 (600 MW) of the Torness nuclear power station in Scotland tripped at 09:00 on 22nd November whilst reactor 2 was on half load for refuelling. Since then Scotland has been dependent on electricity imports from England for every hour of every day peaking at 2,552 MW at 20:00 on 23 Nov as the mercury plunged towards -5°C. At that point, Scotland was dependent on England for half of its electricity. In the past, Scotland was always 100% reliant on home-grown power.
Ecotricity have withdrawn their Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for sixteen 126.5m turbines on their Inch Moor site, just to the west of Duns. The scheme was just over the 50MW threshold for S36 applications, avoiding a decision by the local planning authority.
A spokesman for the company is quoted in the press as saying that, after speaking to a number of statutory bodies, they have decided not to take the project forward.
West Coast Energy was scoping a scheme for ten 115m turbines on a neighbouring site at Weetfoot Bog. In January 2015, the developer informed local community councils that they would not be taking the project forward.
SBC Ref. 15/00961/S36.
ECU page.
Ecotricity website.
'Ecotricity ends plans for 16 wind turbines in Scottish Borders', Energy Voice, 17 November 2016.
RES are looking to develop an array of fourteen 132m turbines on a neighbouring site at Langton Lees, between the Longformacus road and the B6456, to the west of Duns. RES operate the Black Hill array of twenty-two 78m turbines, just to the north of the proposed site.
They submitted a scoping application to Scottish Borders Council on 3 December, 2013, and held an exhibition on their proposal on 20 May, 2015
Scoping application: 13/01366/SCO.
Mast application: 13/00700/FUL.
SSE, one of the so-called 'Big Six' energy suppliers, has blamed low wind for the fall in its pre-tax profits. The lower figures were also blamed on the exodus of customers in search of more attractive deals from other suppliers.
In the six months to the end of September, the company said that less windy weather had cut output from its wind farms by 20.5% and that this was reflected in its profit figures.
Funnily enough, this figure has not figured in WWF Scotland's frequent press-released claims this Autumn regarding the massive amounts of wind power supposedly being generated by Scottish turbines!
'No wind is a low blow for SSE as customers head for the exit', The Times (Paywalled), 10 November, 2016.
October has been a busy month for windfarms in the Lammermuirs with an additional nineteen 145m high turbines consented by Scottish Ministers at Aikengall IIa and constraint payments hitting £26,000,000.
This latest consent brings the total of large turbines affecting the Scottish Borders to 595, of which 410 affect Berwickshire. Determinations are still awaited for windfarms at Fallago Rig 1, Fallago Rig 2, Howpark and Inch Moor.
Consumer-funded constraint payments continue to grow and now top £26 million for just two windfarms in Berwickshire's Lammermuir Hills according to the latest figures from the Renewable Energy Foundation.
In the last month EDF's Fallago Rig windfarm has scooped an additional £406,455 in constraint payments, taking its total on 30 October to £17,240,298 and squandering over 201,000 MWh of renewable power in the process; whilst Crystal Rig II has been paid £8,835,470 to date. Just between these two windfarms 269,883 MWh of renewable power has been lost to constraints.
Mark Rowley, Chairman of the local Lammermuir Community Council, said, "People are just shocked that, with the constraint payments rising so relentlessly, SBC planners are recommending that councillors support a second windfarm at Fallago Rig and an extension of time for the existing one. It is clear that the grid simply cannot handle what is already being produced and thousands of megawatt hours of renewable power are being squandered at huge expense to the electricity consumer.
"With a further 19 turbines at Aikengall II due to feed into the local grid next year, and 19 more at Aikengall IIa, planners need to ask for evidence that these turbines are needed and whether the additional impacts are worth it. It seems likely that they'll continue to trash Berwickshire's landscapes to produce power on one hillside whilst nearby windfarms will be even more frequently constrained.
"When Councillors meet to decide on Fallago Rig 2 next week they will have to decide whether to support EDF's subsidy farming at the consumer's expense or whether they will stand up and require that these matters are explored properly at a Public Inquiry before there are any more consents. This gross loss of the power the consents are meant to provide is a significant material matter than should mean objection."
See below for more information.
After a site visit, Scottish Borders Councillors have now voted, aginst officer advice, to object to Fallago 2, the controversial 12-turbine extension to the 48-turbine turbine array in the heart of the Lammermuir Hills Special Landscape Area.
Fallago 1 went through two controversial Public Inquiries before being consented by Scottish Ministers, against the wishes of Scottish Borders Council. SBC objected on the grounds of the cumulative landscape and visual impacts of the scheme. Both of these are markedly worse with the new application. Neighbouring East Lothian Council also objects to the scheme due to its adverse landscape and visual impacts.
Developers are also applying for a re-consent to extend the life of the existing 48 turbines to match any consent for the proposed 12, even larger, turbines at 'Fallago Rig 2'. The combined site would see 60 turbines up to 126.5m tall in the heart of the Lammermuir until 2044 and beyond.
Fallago Rig windfarm is particularly controversial as it is so frequently constrained and prevented from producing power. Since 2013 it has received nearly £17 million of consumer-funded constraint payments with almost 200,000 MWh of renewable energy being dumped. Over £1.3 million was paid to the operators in August and September 2016 alone.
Lammermuir Community Council Chairman, Mark Rowley, said: " It seems incredible that an Assistant Planning Officer would recommend support for an even larger version of a windfarm when the existing one was so clearly seen as unacceptable. This is a unique case where planners are not being asked to consider hypothetical plans but, to consider re-consenting a windfarm that can be seen and visited.
"We were particularly disappointed that the officer report didn't seem to recognise the huge risks that, if either Fallago Rig 1 or Fallago Rig 2 are consented, the latest Scottish Planning Policy would deem the sites suitable for windfarm use in perpetuity. We just don't think that sufficient consideration has been given to the risks of perpetual windfarm use and officers seem determined to consign the Lammermuir Hills to becoming a permanent windfarm landscape. Both SNH and East Lothian Council have raised concerns about the site's suitability for use in perpetuity.
"There is simply no need for an additional windfarm here or for the existing one to be extended. Scottish energy targets have already effectively been met and much of Fallago Rig's potential to generate power is already being wasted with almost 200,000 MWh lost and nearly £17 million of constraint payment added to consumers' bills in just three years. Our residents think it obscene in an area that struggles with particularly high levels of fuel poverty and relies on its landscape to drive the local economy. As one resident said - won't EDF get enough from Hinkley Point?!
"The windfarm is economic folly at the cost of the landscape and those who live, work or visit here. EDF's own environmental statement acknowledges that economic benefits would be 'not significant at local, regional and national scales'.
"This isn't an efficient exercise in wind farming as so much of that power is lost. It looks like an attempt at subsidy farming. If payments continued at current levels Fallago Rig could receive around £140 million from consumers during its lifetime.
"What should be a cherished Special Landscape Area is already at risk of being consigned to long-term industrialisation as of the 576 consented large scale turbines that affect the Scottish Borders 391 affect Berwickshire. Most of those impose their effects on the Lammermuirs.
"With 145m turbines being built nearby at Aikengall, and other local windfarms still waiting for Ministers to determine, we are grateful that SBC councillors are now taking a precautionary approach, to maintain their existing position and to object to additional windfarm development in the Lammermuir Hills. At the end of its current consent Fallago Rig 1 should be decommissioned and the landscape restored as was promised in its original consent.
"With a new local development plan and the huge rate of development in the area, these complex windfarms raise significant issues that require the full scrutiny that only a Public Local Inquiry not the nod of a planning official can provide."
The SBC objection means that there will now be a public inquiry. Though there is every likelihood that there will be attempts by the Scottish Government to limit its scope.
The most recent official figures obtained from the Renewable Energy Foundation indicate that, in the three years of operation to the end of September 2016, Fallago Rig wind farm had received just under £17 million in constraint payments.
This represents a loss of 193,000 MWh of potential generation from renewable sources. The application for a 12-turbine extension estimates that generation from the existing Fallago Rig wind farm is "in the order of 330,750MWh per year", however, judging by performance to date, this figure should more correctly be 266,394MWh, a reduction of 20%.
The existing 48 Fallago Rig turbines are the fourth highest beneficiaries of constraint payments for not generating electricity in a league table of all onshore wind farms in the UK.
Each one of the 48 turbines in the Fallago Rig development has netted £345,000 in 3 years.
The value represented by each turbine in the Fallago Rig wind farm is highest to the operator and lowest to the consumer, and represents poor value for the Scottish Government's ambitious renewable energy targets.
Consumers will pay around £1.38m per year for electricity not to be generated by the 12 turbine extension to the Fallago Rig wind farm, and 20% of potential MWh generation will not be produced.
These figures should be taken into account as a material consideration in assessing the contribution to renewable energy targets and economic benefit of consenting any further turbines at Fallago Rig.
For planning links and more information, see below.
Press coverage:
'Borders opposes Fallago top-up', reNEWS, 7 November, 2016.
'Plans go in to add extra 12 turbines to 48 at wind farm', Southern Reporter, 29 September, 2016.
EDF, the French, state-owned energy conglomerate, have submitted a Section 36 application for twelve 126m turbines, extending the operating 48-turbine mega-scheme on a grouse moor owned by the Duke of Roxburghe in the Lammermuirs, near Longformacus. [1]
EDF are also seeking to extend the period of the original planning consent by 5 years to match any consent for the extension. [2]
It has to be asked why electricity consumers should bear the burden of subsidising an extension to this scheme - with the concomitant damage to the fragile peatland ecology and landscape of the Lammermuirs - when the operators of the current schemes on this transmission line are routinely paid not to produce power that is surplus to requirements and which the grid can't handle.
In just six months after Fallago Rig 1 was commissioned, in May 2013, EDF Energy received £2.99m of constraint payments. [3]
The official figures show Fallago Rig constraint costs have continued to rise. Up to 26 September, 2016, the operators had been paid a total of £16,365,105 for dumping a total of 190,777MWh of electricity at an average price of £85 per MWh, over double the average wholesale price. [4]
Energy experts are questioning the increasingly reckless wind build in Scotland which will exceed all targets and future domestic requirements. [5]
[1] Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit (Ref. EC00003102).
SBC Ref. 16/00145/S36.
Developer website.
[2] SBC Ref. 16/00141/S36" "to extend operational life of wind farm by additional 5 years".
[3] 'EDF Energy paid £3m to shut down Fallago Rig turbines', BBC News, 5 November 2013.
[4] Balancing Mechanism Wind Farm Constraint Payments, REF (Charge levied for data access).
[5] See: 'Gagging on wind power', below.
See also: 'Windfarm operators paid as turbines power off', Carrick Today, 21 January, 2015.
Press & Journal, 31 October, 2016
'An SNP councillor has been accused of "cronyism" after he lobbied his colleagues to support his wind turbine application.
'Councillor Sandy Duncan first lodged proposals to build a 150ft turbine at his Beechwood property at Forglen three years ago.
'The project attracted a flurry of public objections and was subsequently quashed by the Court of Session.
'But when it came back to the council for a second time it was narrowly approved by the Banff and Buchan committee, despite a recommendation from planners to block the scheme.
'Now it has emerged that Mr Duncan, who represents Turriff, sent e-mails to the SNP and independent members of the committee before the vote, seeking support.
'It is understood SNP councillors Ross Cassie, John Cox, Charles Buchan and Brian Topping received the message.
'Independent members Hamish Partridge, Ian Tait and Michael Watt were also contacted.
'Last night Alexander Burnett, the Scottish Conservative MSP for Aberdeenshire West, said: "People will be appalled that a serving councillor should seek to influence the planning process in this way.
'"This episode has all the hallmarks of blatant political cronyism within the SNP group and raises serious questions about the impartiality of the Banff and Buchan area committee on local planning issues."
'Last week Aberdeenshire's full council met in private to take yet another look at the application and revoked the planning permission.
'Mr Duncan has now referred himself to the Standards Commission, which will consider if he has breached the code of conduct.
The Scottish Government has approved a further extension to the Aikengall turbine array in the Lammermuirs, ignoring local planning guidance and warnings on cumulation by SNH. Scottish Borders Council, East Lothian Council and local community councils all objected to the extension.
Construction has hardly been completed on the previous 19-turbine extension of the Aikengall turbine complex (Aikengall II) which now spills over the heights of the Monynut Edge. The constructors noted that, "At 145 metres high, these [Siemens] turbines will be among the tallest in the UK".
'Community Windpower', the privately-owned developers of the scheme, operate the Aikengall I turbine array (sixteen 125m turbines) immediately to the north of the site. This scheme is contiguous with the massive Crystal Rig turbine complex to the west. Aikengall I was approved against planning advice and only on the casting vote of the Convenor of the East Lothian Planning Committee. Normally, the Convenor (Chair) votes according to the Planning Officer's recommendation. Only 5 of the 12 members of the Planning Committee had even bothered to visit the site. This scheme already dominated the coastal viewshed before Aikengall II was built.
DPEA Ref. 115738.
SBC Ref. 14/00169/S36.
ELC Ref. 14/00001/SGC
'An extra 19 more turbines at Aikengall', Berwickshire News, 19 October, 2016 [NB this story seems to confuse the numbers of previously consented turbines (35) with those at Fallago Rig (48)].
The Times (Paywalled), 18 September, 2016.
'An Anglican priest has criticised the Church of England over a proposed wind farm in the Scottish Borders that he claims will desecrate the landscape.
'RES, a renewable energy firm, has struck a deal to build 13 turbines, some as high as 176m, on land owned by the church near Hawick.
'More than 100 objections have been lodged with council planners by residents, who fear Highlee Hill wind farm will scar the countryside, damage tourism and disrupt wildlife. The area is home to peregrines, kites, merlins and hen harriers.
'An intervention by Andrew Warburton, a retired Anglican priest who lives near Newcastleton, close to the proposed development, is likely to prove embarassing for church officials.
'In a letter to Scottish Borders council, Warburton, who served as a priest in Oxfordshire, said he was "ashamed" of his church for refusing to face residents who were likely to be affected by the wind farm.
'"I am appalled that the Church Commissioners of England have had the gall to support this development in Scotland," writes Warburton.
'"In England they would have been required to engage with local people. But here they are not bothered to meet with those most directly affected. This is not the way that a supposedly Christian organisation is supposed to behave."
For planning links and more information,see below.
Livos Energy have now submitted an application to Scottish Borders Council for for eight 100m turbines at Howpark Farm, contiguous with the twenty-two 76m operating turbines at Drone Hill, near Grantshouse. A previous scoping application was submitted for two 80m turbines on the site in 2013.
Another fourteen 100m turbines at Penmanshiel, immediately to the north and contiguous with the Howpark scheme were consented at appeal in October 2013 and have just been constructed. Two 99.5m turbines are being scoped at Old Townhead, just to the north of the Penmanshiel scheme.
The original Drone Hill application was unanimously refused by Scottish Borders Council, following the advice of environmental consultants and planners, only for the local decision to be overturned at appeal by a Scottish Government Reporter in 2008.
The Penmanshiel scheme was applied for in October, 2011 only to be appealed for non-determination within the year, before it could be decided locally. The Scottish Government Reporter discounted SNH concerns about cumulative visual impacts with the operating Drone Hill and other schemes in the Eastern Lammermuirs and A1 corridor. Drone Hill was also consented at appeal, overturning a unanimous local refusal which followed officer and consultee recommendations. The Reporter also rejected objections to differing turbine heights in the adjacent proposals, going against the design principles set out by SNH.
This is typical of the 'cluster effect'. Once an application is approved, wind speculators crowd in with 'me-too' and extension schemes on neighbouring sites. Applications often cite the damage already done in attempting to justify further visual and environmental damage.
We have seen this across the Borders. Typical is the Crystal Rig/Aikengall super-complex. Starting with "only twenty-five 100m turbines" in 2004 (Crystal Rig), Crystal Rig is on its fifth extension ('Crystal Rig Phase IV', see below).
The proposal is for another 17 turbines, up to 135m in height, on areas surrounding their huge Crystal Rig complex. They already have another application, 'Crystal Rig 3', for six 125m turbines in the planning system. These turbines are to the north of the 86 turbines of the previous Crystal Rig phases 1, 1a, 2 and 2a, and north west of the contiguous 16 operating turbines of Aikengall 1, which were approved locally (against officer advice on the casting vote of the Committee Convenor).
At Aikengall, 'Community Windpower' are playing the same game: they applied to the Scottish Government for nineteen more 125m turbines (Aikengall II) before the ink was dry on the Aikengall I consent. This was consented and has been followed with a further application ('Aikengall 2a') for another nineteen 145m and 125m turbines before any Aikengall II turbines have been built.
So it goes: from designated " Area of Great Landscape Value" (2003) to "a well-established wind farm landscape" (Aikengall II planning application).
SBC Application Ref. 16/00980/FUL.
'Wind farm site creates concern', Berwickshire News, 3 December, 2015.
A proposal for eight 126.5m turbines is being scoped by Gilston Hill Wind Farm Ltd (GHWFL) on Gilston Hill Farm. [1] The site was part of the previous 'Brotherstone' scheme for sixteen 115m turbines which extended into the neighbouring local authority of Midlothian. This was refused locally and then at appeal in 2013. [2]
The appeal was dismissed by a reporter appointed by Scottish ministers. In his decision, Reporter Richard Bowden said: "I conclude that the proposal would give rise to an unacceptable number of significant adverse landscape and visual amenity impacts, including cumulative impacts."
The site is only 1.5 km to the west of the existing Dun Law Windfarm and about 2 km north of Toddleburn Windfarm. It is adjacent to the Fala Flow Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which is also designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA). There are a number of areas of ancient woodland in the vicinity of the site.
GHWFL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Velocita Energy Developments Limited (Velocita). 2020 Renewables Ltd (see Whitebrae, below), "is also part of the Velocita Group and is responsible for project management of the proposed development, construction and operation of windfarms owned and operated by the Velocita Group. 2020 will therefore be responsible for the preparation and submission of the planning application on behalf of GHWFL". [2]
[1] SBC Ref. 16/00922/SCO.
[2] DPEA Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2043.
[3] 'Plans for new wind farm in Scottish Borders', BBC News, 1 August, 2016.
Scottish Borders Council's planning committee has confirmed its opposition to a proposed wind farm near Tweedsmuir. A section 36 application for fourteen 133.5m turbines at Whitelaw Brae, just west of the Fruid Reservoir, near Tweedsmuir, was submitted last year to the Scottish Government by 2020 Renewables for Velocita Energy Developments.
The Scheme falls just over the 50MW margin for decision by government rather than the local planning authority.
SBC's planning committee had previously unanimously agreed to object to the application. Senior Planning Officer Ian Aikman told councillors that the unspoiled character of the site area, between Fruid Reservoir and the main A701 Dumfries to Edinburgh road, would "change dramatically" if the development was permitted.
He said the wind farm would have a "significant impact" on these areas.
A public inquiry into the proposed scheme is set to get underway on Tuesday 23 August, at Tweedsmuir Village Hall.
Reporters David Buylia and Claire Milne will listen to evidence from the developers as well as the objectors including Tweedsmuir Community Council and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
A site visit is scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 1st.
The history of recent decisions (see below) does not encourage optimism that the Scottish Government is listening to local communities, councils or planning experts in their madcap pursuit of wind power.
They continue to go against the planning criteria for wind turbines introduced by the UK Government last year.
Numbers of large schemes have recently been approved against planning guidance, SBC recommendation and overwhelming opposition from local communities.
Meanwhile, more and more wind output is being dumped, at very large cost to the electricity consumer, as more and more unecessary wind capacity comes on stream.
Official figures show that the operators of Fallago Rig (now EDF, the French, state-owned energy conglomerate) received a total £13,803,736 in constraint payments up to 7 February 2016; the scheme was only commissioned in May 2013. They dumped of 160,333MWh of power at an average cost of £85 per MWh. This is about double the average wholesale cost of electricity.
EDF are now planning to extend this very profitable white elephant (see below).
SBC Planning Ref. 15/00020/S36.
Scottish Govt. Energy Consents Unit Ref. EC00002090.
'Council renews Whitelaw Brae turbine opposition', BBC News, 19 July, 2016.
The Scottish Government has rubber-stamped yet another giant wind scheme in the Scottish Borders. The picturesque Cloich Hills, near Peebles, were not seen as appropriate for wind development by Scottish Borders Council and landscape consultants. The SBC Landscape Architect stated: "In my view, the Cloich Hills do not have the capacity for large scale (100m+) turbines and are an unsuitable area. This is supported by the Landscape Capacity and Cumulative Impact Study.
The Section 36 application for eighteen 115m turbines by Partnership for Renewables and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) was called in for decision by ministers due to its proximity to the locally refused Hag Law scheme.
Scottish Borders Council had objected to the application on 2 June, 2014, on grounds that it did not accord with SBC planning policy as set out in their Local Plan landscape and capacity studies.
Partnership for Renewables, working with Forestry Commission Scotland, are also scoping a 90-turbine Section 36 scheme in the Wauchope and Newcastleton Forests, south of Hawick. They are proposing 70 turbines in the Wauchope Forest and 20 more on the Newcastleton site (see below).
Many would question whether Scottish Government ministers should be deciding applications in which the Scottish Government has a direct financial interest: FCS is a government agency.
FCS state that: "Forestry Commission Scotland's mission is to protect and expand Scotland's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment."
Turbine parks and their associated infrastructure seem at odds with the FCS mission statement.
Members of the Scottish Borders Council Planning Committee unanimously refused West Coast Energy's scheme for eight 100m turbines at Hag Law (Stevenson Hill) in February, 2015. The site adjoins the Cloich Forest site.
The application had been strongly recommended for refusal by planning and heritage officers on the grounds of its adverse visual impacts on the landscape and nearby heritage sites.
The proposal had also been strongly opposed by local people, with 125 letters of objection and only 1 letter in support of the scheme.
The decision was then appealed (30/04/2015); Scottish Ministers then recalled the appeal for their decision. It was finally refused on 8 July, 2016.
Kilrubie Windfarm Ltd submitted an application on 4 August, 2015 for seven 115m turbines on a site between Kilrubie Hill and Cloich Hill, close to Eddleston. The site is contiguous with the approved Cloich Forest application.
The scheme was appealed for non-determination in January 2016.
As with adjoining proposals, SBC has found against its acceptibility. Their Landscape Architect writes: "In my view, the Cloich Hills do not have the capacity for large scale (100m+) turbines and are an unsuitable area. This is supported by the Landscape Capacity and Cumulative Impact Study by Ironside Farrar (July 2013)."
Cloich Forest: ECU Ref.EC00003108
SBC Ref. 12/01283/S36.
Hag Law: DPEA Ref. PPA-140-2053.
SBC Ref. 14/00738/FUL.
Kilrubie: SBC Ref. 15/00818/FUL.
'Aftermath anger over Cloich appeal decision', Peebleshire News, 14 July, 2016.
RES submitted a planning application to Scottish Borders Council for their Highlee Hill scheme, near Chesters, on 4 July, 2016.
Previously scoped under the 'Dykeraw' name, the application is for 2 turbines at a tip height of 150m and 11 turbines at a tip height of 176m (577 ft).
The application documents were not visible on the SBC website as of 6 July, 2016.
Developer website.
'Opposition to wind farm mounts', Southern Reporter, 5 August, 2016.
SBC Application Ref. 16/00810/FUL.
Herald Scotland, 3 July, 2016.
'Big energy companies hampered plans to protect porpoises off the north east of Scotland by forcefully lobbying the Scottish Government behind the scenes, according to internal documents obtained by the Sunday Herald.
'Confidential correspondence released under freedom of information law reveals that the Scottish company SSE and Spain-based EDP Renewables warned ministers that a planned conservation area for harbour porpoises could kill their plans for large offshore wind farms in the Moray Firth.
'The companies cautioned privately that delays and tougher environmental restrictions could cause shareholders and investors to pull out. They disputed that porpoises needed the protection, highlighted the risk of legal action and threatened to demand compensation.
'In the wake of intense pressure, the Scottish Government decided to ditch the porpoise conservation area in the Moray Firth. It has instead proposed a large area off the west coast, where no wind farms are currently planned.
The revelations have infuriated wildlife groups, who accuse ministers of giving energy companies preferential treatment. Official claims that all sides had been dealt with "equitably" were not true, they say.
'From June to November last year the companies had almost weekly conference calls with government officials. They received detailed briefings on timetables and processes, were kept abreast of what ministers were thinking and were given confidential draft science reports.
'The first meeting granted to environmental groups on porpoise conservation areas took place on November 2 2015. By that time the decision to abandon plans to designate an area in the Moray Firth had virtually been made.
Yet again a Scottish Government Reporter has wielded the rubber stamp, overturning the local refusal of Infinis' scheme for nine 125m turbines near Hermitage Castle. The council had described the scheme as "incongruous and anachronistic". The majority refusal (6:2) had followed the recommendation of the Council's landscape architect and senior planners.
The scheme threatens the wild and beautiful setting of Hermitage Castle and had attracted over 300 objections. The decision directly contradicts SBC's Special Planning Guidance on wind development.
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2055.
SBC Planning Ref. 13/00789/FUL.
Local Response Group: Hermitage Action Group(HAG).
'Crystal Rig and Fallago Rig wind farms received over £358,000 at the Easter weekend to turn off their turbines.
'"Local schemes Fallago and Crystal Rig were both heavily constrained (again) whilst both feeling the need to have extra turbines constructed," said Mark Rowley, chair of Lammermuir Community Council.
'Crystal Rig currently has 85 turbines and operator Fred Olsen Renewables is looking to increase the number by 6. EDF Energys Fallago Rig currently has 48 operating turbines and wants to add a further 13.
'The Renewable Energy Foundation website says: "Windy bank holidays, when wind power output is high but demand is low, can force National Grid to make significant constraint payments to wind farms, plus related payments to conventional generators, to cope with the surplus, unusable electricity generated by wind farms, usually because the windfarms are located behind a grid bottleneck.
'"2016 has proved to be the most expensive Easter holiday period to date for wind farm constraint payments, with a total of £3.7 million being shared between 39 wind farms.
'"It is expected that even with grid reinforcements, wind constraint payments particularly to Scottish wind farms will rise again, as more wind power is built north of Tweed.
'"There can be little justification for the consenting of further wind farms, and arguably those wind farms already constructed and consented should pay for the system difficulties they are causing."
The official figures show that the operators of Fallago Rig (now EDF, the French, state-owned energy conglomerate) received a total £13,803,736 in constraint payments up to 7 February 2016; the scheme was only commissioned in May 2013. They covered the dumping of 160,333MWh of power at an average price of £85 per MWh. This is about double the average wholesale cost of electricity.
See below for more on the planned Fallago Rig extension.
Produced by the Wild Land Research Institute for the John Muir Trust this short animation shows the spread of wind farms and their visual impact from 1995 to 2015.
Border Telegraph, 16 February, 2016.
'A REGION-wide conservation network believes the Scottish Government is tearing up any democratic hopes of protecting the Borders countryside from wind farm developers.
'The Borders Network of Conservation Groups has hit out at the recent Local Development Plan which was presented to Scottish Borders Council towards the end of last year.
'The campaigners have raised concerns that a key part of the region's proposed LDP on wind farms has been edited out of all recognition by Government Reporters.
'And they are demanding answers from Marco Biagi MSP, the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment.
'Following the removal of the local context and considerations from Scottish Borders Council policy on renewable energy developments, the group believes the council's planning department will now have even fewer tools for controlling any inappropriate countryside developments, including large-scale wind farms.
'John Williams, chairman of the Borders Network of Conservation Groups, told the Border Telegraph: "LDPs are intended to build on Scottish Government policy and guidelines by adding local context and considerations for the guidance of all interested parties.
''To this end, SBC and its contractors undertook comprehensive research, extensive and expensive - public consultation, landscape study and capacity assessment to craft an objective, well-reasoned renewable energy policy relevant to the Borders region.
''The Network's focus on the lawful and rational consideration of wind energy development in the Scottish Borders shows that the Reporters appear to have deliberately and forensically removed so much of the local context from the council's policy that it now reads as if it were written by central government with no knowledge or account taken of the Scottish Borders landscape - or those people and businesses that depend on it.
''Worse, it seems that the Reporters' localectomy has now removed so many references to the balanced independent studies commissioned by SBC that the new policy suggests a bias towards permitting wind farm developments - even though this was certainly not what most of the consultants advocated."
'Scottish Borders Council has already written to Holyrood to raise it concerns over the LDP and the lack of time given to make any challenges.
Borders Network of Conservation Groups website.
Partnership for Renewables, working with Forestry Commission Scotland, are scoping a 90-turbine Section 36 scheme in the Wauchope and Newcastleton Forests, south of Hawick. They are proposing 70 turbines in the Wauchope Forest and 20 on the Newcastleton site.
The Newcastleton site falls within RAF Spadeadam's Electronic Warfare Training range and low-flying area 13.
Forestry Commission Scotland currently seem more interested in turbines than trees. They have a number of other large schemes in planning, or in preparation. Their Scottish Borders proposal for eighteen 115m turbines at Cloich Forest, near Peebles, was recently rubber-stamped by their employers, the Scottish Government.
Sensible people are increasingly asking why huge Section 36 proposals are still being brought forward when more and more Scottish wind output is routinely dumped as surplus to requirements.
SBC Ref. 16/00037/SCO.
No entry on ECU website yet.
Developer website.
See: 'Gagging on windpower', below.
"This will trash the area for tourism", Border Telegraph, 3 February, 2016.
Previously scoped as a Section 36 proposal (over 50MW) under the 'Dykeraw' name, an application has now been submitted under the 'Highlee Hill' name for eleven 176m and two 150m turbines.
SBC Ref. 15/01343/SCO.
Developer website.
(9 December, 2015).
East Lothian Council have revealed that the application by EDF, on behalf of Lafarge, for three 100m turbines on land near to the cement works at Skateraw, near Dunbar, has been withdrawn.
ELC Planning Ref. 10/00196/P.
Scotsman, 26 December, 2015.
'CONSERVATION bodies and outdoor groups have warned ministers that Scotland's planning system has become a "developers' charter".
'A host of organisations have expressed concerns about the speed at which new and unsuitable buildings are constructed against the wishes of many people.
'Their fears have been outlined in a series of documents submitted to the Scottish Government's newly established review of planning, which is being chaired by Crawford Beveridge, the successful industrialist who also chairs the Scottish Governments Council of Economic Advisers.
'The proliferation of wind turbines, the construction of dormitory towns and the erosion of green belt land are among the issues raised by organisations as Beveridge and his panel consider around 350 pieces of written evidence.
'In its submission, the John Muir Trust, the charity specialising in protecting Scotland's wild places, claimed the system "does not appear to be delivering community engagement and, at its worst, can appear to be a developers' charter for getting major planning proposals embedded in the system before the communities are fully aware of them."
'The Trust said that pre-plan consultations "often seem to be a 'box-ticking' exercise" and added that communities did not have strong enough rights of appeal against controversial decisions made in favour of developers.
'It also claimed breaches of planning conditions were going unchecked. The Trust supported a contribution made by Planning Democracy, a voluntary group campaigning for fair planning.
'Planning Democracy said it was concerned that "developers can win a war of attrition by repeatedly putting in proposals for the community and local authority to respond to."
Planning Democracy website.
Anybody who has been through a battle to defend a local community and its tourist economy against turbine developers will understand just how biased the system is in favour of applicants who use the planning system to grind opposition into the ground with repeated amendments, appeals and applications.
It's not just turbines. Edinburgh's Old Town Community Council resigned en-masse in 2013, in protest at the way the Scottish planning system fails to recognise the interests of local communities and their living environment, and the strains it puts on local representatives.
See this article and the link to the statement by Simon Byrom, former member of the Old Town Community Council (PDF download).
The long-running saga of the Mount Lothian application for nine 102m turbines seems finally to have reached a conclusion with the dismissal on 8 December of an appeal for non-determination by Wind Prospect.
The reporter concluded that, "the combination of height, number and layout of the turbines would have unacceptable landscape and visual impacts. The proposal would therefore be contrary to the objectives and policies of the development plan to permit environmentally acceptable wind farms. "
Unfortunately, another application for two 35m turbines proposed at Springfield Farm has been allowed at appeal, a decision reached in a highly controversial manner and in the face of overwhelming local opposition.
Appeal Ref. PPA-290-2025.
Application Ref. 14/00044/DPP.
An appeal against refusal of an application for six 110m turbines by Airvolution Energy for Lauder Common Good Fund at Muircleuch, near Lauder was refused on 8 December, 2015.
Two previous planning applications for 2 x 125m turbines had been withdrawn.
DPEA Ref. PPA-140-2054.
SBC Application Ref. 13/00044/FUL.
Response group: Lauderdale Preservation Group.
Official figures show that Scottish turbine operators were handed more than £5 million in the week beginning 9 November for not producing power, because the grid could not use their output.
The latest figures show that over £58m has been paid in so-called 'constraint payments' to UK wind operators in the past 12 months. This is already substantially up on last year's record £53m, even before we have seen the windiest part of the year.
The scale of the payments has soared in the last three years, according to official figures: in 2012, UK wind farms were paid £5.9million to switch off; on just one day this week (Monday, 9 November), £1,452,629 was handed to turbine operators in Scotland to forego production.
In the previous week, National Grid was forced to issue the first 'Notification of Inadequate System Margin' (NISM) since 2012, authorising the use of hugely expensive emergency back-up generation and industrial demand-reduction measures to safeguard supplies.
The NISM was issued at 1.30pm on Wednesday 4 November, when the entire metered UK wind fleet, onshore and offshore, was producing as little as 130MW from its 8,403MW headline capacity.
Although energy policy is reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government continues to use its control over the planning system to encourage the construction of unneeded turbines, defying the UK government's policy of cooling down the wind rush. According to DECC, the UK will greatly exceed UK 2020 targets for onshore wind and the limits on costs to consumers under the Levy Control Framework.
Scottish Conservative energy spokesman Murdo Fraser is quoted in the Express as saying: "This is an incredible financial bonus for a form of energy that is unreliable and intermittent.
"Taxpayers will be appalled at this spend, particularly as a reward for effectively doing nothing.
"It shows why the UK Government was quite right to end the subsidy for wind farms and put the brakes on this gravy train before it gets out of hand."
Scotland currently hosts about 70% of the UK's onshore turbines but can't use much of the power produced on windy days.
Nor is a temporary lack grid capacity, as the Scottish Government frequently claims, the reason for curtailment. National Grid's usual explanation for curtailing Scottish power generation is that there is too much intermittent load on the system, endangering the stability and security of power supplies.
While braying about wind turbines and electricity generation, the Scottish Government have been very quiet about the fact that 3/5 of energy consumption (the subject of key carbon reduction targets) in Scotland goes in heating. Only 2/5 is devoted to power generation.
The Scottish Government seems less interested in heating costs and fuel poverty than in political posturing on wind power generation, one of the main drivers of fuel poverty.
'Wind farms get £5million handout because it has been too windy', Express website, 13 November, 2015.
'Gagging on wind Power', Energy Matters.
Renewable Energy Foundation, Energy Data.
Pogbie Windfarm Ltd have applied for 6 more 74 metre turbines to extend their already consented Pogbie scheme for 6 turbines, to the east of the A68 at Soutra Hill.
The original Pogbie Farm proposal was consented in 2009 but has not yet been constructed.
Another 6 turbines were consented on the neighbouring Keith Hill site in 2011.
There are already 61 operating 63.5 and 75 metre turbines in the adjacent Dun Law complex.
East Lothian Council planning ref. 15/00536/P.
After a long period of relative calm on the wind front in East Lothian - mainly due to the capacity studies and rigorous planning guidance introduced by East Lothian Council - we now see an application for an extension of six 115m turbines to the existing Ferneylea turbine array, near Oldhamstocks.
The Ferneylea 1 scheme, for two 71m turbines, was recommended for refusal due to its landscape impacts, alone and in cumulation with the three Hoprigshiels turbines, only 500 metres from Ferneylea. It was refused locally and was then approved by a Scottish Government Reporter, at a time when nearly every local refusal in the area was being overturned at appeal.
We have repeatedly seen local refusals in the eastern Lammermuirs fringe overturned and sites subsequently expanded with major extensions and 'me-too' applications on neighbouring sites, disregarding the landscape sensitivities which occasioned original recommendations to refuse applications from landscape architects and planners.
ELC Ref. 15/00363/P.
Response group: SABEL (Sustain A Beautiful East Lothian).
FT, 18 August 2015.
'Scottish Power has announced it will close the huge Longannet power station next March, saying high carbon taxes and transmission charges mean it is no longer economic to generate electricity from coal or gas in Scotland.
'Confirmation of the closure of the 2,400MW capacity power station on the banks of the Forth in Fife highlights the decline of coal plants in the UK and will fuel concerns about electricity supply capacity amid the expected closure over the next few years of up to a fifth of overall generating capacity.
The SNP has rounded on the UK government blaming them for Longannet's scheduled closure. But, a major contributing factor to the Longannet closure has been the SNP government's energy policy with ever increasing use of massively subsidised renewables, primarily wind, with prioritised access to the grid. EU energy policy is also a major factor.
Inevitably, as the amount of wind power generation increases, fossil-fuelled plants are more constrained, becoming less economic, as has happened at Longannet and other UK power stations. Germany has the same problem.
Former Labour Energy Minister Brian Wilson, who has had very considerable involvement in wind power generation, has published a damning analysis of the SNP's history of involvement in the Longannet saga:
'Brian Wilson: Broken promises over Longannet'
The Scotsman, 20 February, 2015.
'The early closure of Longannet's coal-fired power station would be the final chapter in a sorry tale, writes Brian Wilson.
'If there was a gold medal for brass neck, Nicola Sturgeon would have been on the rostrum this week for her breathtaking demand that David Cameron should intervene to keep Scotland's lights on.
'Fortunately, there is no early likelihood of Scotland's lights going out. Due to the sagacity of the Labour government in which I was energy minister, we have GB-wide trading arrangements which mean that the infrastructure exists to import power from the rest of Britain.
'If, however, our lights depended on the wisdom of the Scottish Government, of which Ms Sturgeon has been a member since 2007, then the advice by now would be to invest in candle manufacturing. The "someone else is to blame" mantra has rarely sounded more feeble.
On 29 July the Scottish Government has upheld an appeal by Infinis against Scottish Borders Council's decision to refuse planning permission to add six 100m turbines to the existing eleven 105 and 120m turbines at Glenkerie, near Broughton and Tweedsmuir.
The scheme had been opposed by local community councils and various rural amenity organisations.
The Peebleshire News reports that Tweeddale MP David Mundell is critical of the decision and has called for a change in the rules to allow local people to be in charge of the planning process, mirroring English planning guidance:
Mr Mundell said: "My feelings on wind farms are well known by local people, I say enough is enough. This extension was given a resounding no by local people yet the Scottish government has overruled the wishes of local people. The Scottish government now needs to follow the UK government lead and put local people in charge of planning decisions for onshore wind. It cannot be right that communities south of the Border can say a decisive no to new developments but local communities in the Borders, and elsewhere across Scotland, remain powerless to stop them."
Chris Lewin, the chairman of Upper Tweed Community Council, said: "This development will ruin the natural beauty of the Glenholm Valley, near Broughton, which is a significant tourist attraction, particularly in the summer months. Part of the Valley lies within the Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area and is visited by local people, picnickers, walkers and others, some of whom come from a considerable distance. These people like to enjoy the rugged landscape of a little part of Scotland which is still largely unspoiled but is easily accessible from Peebles and other towns. On behalf of the Upper Tweed Community Council I should like to say how deeply this decision is regretted. We wrote earlier this year to the Scottish government, but our objections have unfortunately been overruled."
('Wind farm extension given the go ahead', Peebleshire News, 5 August, 2015).
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2052.
SBC Appl. Ref.13/00552/FUL.
Hope Construction Materials has announced * the completion of the foundations for the 19-turbine extension of the Aikengall turbine complex in the Lammermuir Hills above Dunbar.
The constructors note that," At 145 metres high, these turbines will be among the tallest in the UK".
Siemens will supply SWT-3.2-113 turbines and has also signed a 20-year service contract. Delivery and installation is planned for early summer 2016.
'Community Windpower', the privately-owned developers of the scheme, operate the Aikengall 1 turbine array (16 x 125m turbines) immediately to the north of the site. This scheme is contiguous with the massive Crystal Rig turbine complex to the west. Aikengall 1 was approved against planning advice and only on the casting vote of the Convenor of the East Lothian Planning Committee. Normally, the Convenor (Chair) votes according to the Planning Officer's recommendation. Only 5 of the 12 members of the Planning Committee had even bothered to visit the site. This scheme now dominates the coastal viewshed.
Hardly had the original scheme been approved when CW announced a Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for the turbines that are currently being constructed.
Numbers were reduced by the withdrawal of the 8 turbines within Scottish Borders Council's area after they strongly objected to the scheme
However, the company returned with yet another application ('Aikengall 2a') for another 19 massive turbines on SBC's side of the border. This has now been rubber-stamped by the Scottish Government, ignoring planning guidance, the warnings on cumulation by SNH and the opposition of local councils.
* 'Foundations completed for new Lothian wind farm', Construction Index, 18 June, 2015.
'Siemens to supply 60.8MW Aikengall II', Wind Power Intelligence, 27 July, 2015.
SBC planning page for current Aikengall 2a application: Planning Ref. 14/00169/S36
Scottish Government ECU entry.
'Community Windpower', the privately-owned speculative wind development company, has withdrawn their Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for twenty-four 132m and 125m turbines on a site at Girthgate, between Lauder and Stow.
A five-day hearing had been due to take place in September after Scottish Borders Council opposed the application and the application was referred to the Scottish Government's directorate of planning appeals.
SBC had objected to the proposal because of its visual and amenity impacts. Community councils in Stow, Fountainhall and Heriot are also against the scheme.
Ian Aikman, SBC's Major Development Manager, had said the wind farm would have a "dramatic and harmful impact".
The Girthgate scheme was the result of the amalgamation of the former Girthgate ('Community Windpower') and Cathpair (Muirhall Energy) proposals into a single large proposal.
Scottish Govt. DPEA case page.
'Plans for Girthgate wind farm are shelved by developer', BBC News, 22 July, 2015.
'Council object to wind farm', Southern Reporter, 1 April, 2014.
Local response group: Lauderdale Preservation Group website.
'Save Bonnie Lauderdale' is on Facebook.
Energy Voice, 15 July, 2015.
'A leading economist has claimed consumers have paid a £1 billion subsidies penalty – to deliver soaring profits to windfarm operators.
'Inverness-based Mackay Consultants said analysis of economic impact and feasibility studies for turbines schemes revealed that electricity customers were ultimately billed for three times the amount required to help build them.
'Company Tony Mackay claimed official statistics showed the payments – through renewable obligation certificates and feed-in tariffs – for windfarms across Scotland totalled £1.36 billion over the past eight years.
'And he estimated that most schemes would have been profitable with a subsidy of barely a third of that – somewhere in the region of £475 million.
'He said: "I believe that on average the level of subsidies for windfarms is an estimated 2.8 times what was actually required for the facilities to be built."
'Mr Mackay said the result was "extraordinary" rewards for developers – or in economics jargon, "supernormal profits".
Scottish Farmer, 10 July, 2015.
'During the great rush to farmscale windpower generation, fuelled by generous Feed-in Tariffs, hundreds of Scottish farmers chose to install Irish-built C and F turbines - a choice they are now regretting.
'Several hundred farmers from across the country have suffered huge cost implications as a result of having C and F turbines, which have fallen into disrepair and not been serviced properly, or at all.
'A group, which was set up three years ago for wind turbine customers, has received more than 150 new members in the last two months from desperate C and F customers who claim to be losing thousands of pounds on their investments.
'Alex MacLean-Bristol, a turbine owner from the Isle of Coll and head of the group, told The Scottish Farmer: "I set up the group three years ago when there was a lot of slagging off of certain turbines. I thought if problems occurred in the future we would have a database of complaints.
'"We are at the end of a three-year gold rush to manufacture and buy turbines, encouraged by government, and if you were in windy place it looked like a great option to make money.
'"A lot of farmers saw an opportunity, jumped in and maybe bought a turbine that we knew was fairly new and put faith in the testing scheme - this all put pressure on the company to produce before the feed in tarrif drops.
'"Quite a lot of people paid the full service fee upfront but only received one service in three years - small turbines need serviced every year.
'"Others have experienced a part shortage in repair supplies, meaning machines have broken down and haven't been repaired.'
'C and F has also recently increased its service charge by almost double the cost - proving to be the last straw for unhappy customers.
See our Farm Turbines page for more information on smaller turbines.
Sunday Herald, 5 July, 2015.
'Only six per cent of the 30,020 jobs projected to be created in Scotland by 2015 through the growth of the offshore wind industry have actually materialised, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
'A 2010 report on the future of the sector commissioned by industry body Scottish Renewables forecast that, under the most optimistic scenario, 30,020 full-time equivalent jobs would be in existence by 2015 and that this number would grow to 48,554 by 2020.
'But the most recent figures show that in 2013 just 1,842 people were employed in the sector in 2013: a figure that is unlikely to have changed substantially as no offshore wind farms have been built in Scottish waters since then.
'Those 1,842 created jobs are however more than twice the number of the study's worst case scenario projection of 741 jobs by 2015, but far short of the 17,076 estimated under a second "more moderate" development scenario and considerably less than the 5,346 projected under the study's third scenario of the number of jobs that would be created by 2015 "if Scotland fails to capture the economic benefits of offshore wind development."
See also: 'Renewables blow as South Korean firm axe plan for £100m wind turbine factory in Fife', Herald Scotland, Thursday 2 July, 2015.
The Scottish wind industry and associated bodies [1] have being blitzing the UK media with a story that so-called 'community funds' from Scottish turbine schemes amount to some £8.8 million a year. [2] As usual, most of the media have reprinted the press release almost word for word without examining the figures.
Mysteriously, the press release fails to mention that this figure is a tiny percentage of the consumer-funded subsidy paid to operators. Analysing the figures, it is apparent that community funds paid on the suggested basic figure of £5K per MW of installed capacity per annum on average amount to about 3%, or less, with a good wind resource, of the production subsidy paid by consumers to these schemes.
The press release mentions Whitelee. The official figures for recorded outputs, ROCs and 'curtailment payments' made to Iberdrola (Scottish Power), the operators of this scheme are available on the Renewable Energy Foundation's database. [3]
For the year ending December 2014, Whitelee 1 and 2 received 1,024,843 ROCs, a production subsidy worth over £43 million at today's ROC price.
According to official data, Whitelee 1 & 2 have also received nearly £32.5 million in constraint payments to date at an average cost to the consumer of £78/MWh at Whitelee 1 and £74/MWh at Whitelee 2 (wholesale value less that £50/MWh). [4]
It is therefore very apparent, that a national figure of "almost £9 million a year" is nothing to boast about.
[1] Lead agency: 'Local Energy Scotland' - "A consortium made up of the Energy Saving Trust (EST), Changeworks, The Energy Agency, SCARF and The Wise Group. Local Energy Scotland administers and manages the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) with support for delivery from Ricardo-AEA".
[2] For example: 'Wind farms' £9m boost for Scotland's communities', The Scotsman, 16 June, 2015.
[3] REF database entry (Click on Genrator ID No for details).
[4] REF Constraint Payments (Click on wind farm for details).
Scottish Daily Mail, 27 April, 2015.
'The number of wind turbines in Scotland has doubled over the past year, with nearly 5,000 set to be scattered across the country. New figures show 4,519 turbines have been approved, built or are under construction, despite green energy targets already being met.
'This is up from 2,315 turbines the previous year – and hundreds more are at the planning stage.
'Scotland now has more wind turbines than the rest of the UK put together, with the Highlands soon to have a greater number than England.
'Last night, critics demanded an urgent halt to their 'out of control' proliferation.
'According to figures from Renewables UK, the wind farm companies' trade body, Scotland is bearing the brunt of new development. While construction in the rest of the UK has slowed, 27 large- scale wind farms were built north of the Border last year – with 31 more planned for 2015.
'But according to council planning applications, the scale of development is even higher. There are 2,068 turbines planned or under construction in the Highlands, with more than 500 around Loch Ness. Dumfries and Galloway has 1,315, while Aberdeenshire has more than 800.
'The SNP has set a target of generating the equivalent of all our electricity from renewable sources by 2020, with the majority expected to come from onshore wind.
'But the country is already on course to exceed green energy targets. According to the Scientific Alliance, which campaigns against wind farms, output from existing developments a nd pl a nned schemes given approval already stood at 99 per cent of the target more than a year ago.
'As a result, campaigners are calling for a moratorium on all new wind farm applications.
'Linda Holt of Scotland Against Spin said: 'Wind farm development in Scotland is out of control.
'"The last thing Scottish ministers want to know is how many turbines have been imposed on the country. If they did, they would have to tell the Scottish people and they couldn't blame Westminster as planning is fully devolved.
'"They would also have to stop dodging key policy questions like how many turbines do we need, how many can we afford and how many can our landscape and communities take.
'"In other words, they would have to do the j ob of government. Instead, they have lain down in front of the international wind industry and allowed speculators to besiege and blight communities and landscapes across Scotland."
'Scottish Tory energy spokesman Murdo Fraser said: 'Wind energy has a part to play in the power mix, but the SNP's single-minded obsession with onshore wind is blanketing our countryside with turbines producing inefficient, intermittent and expensive energy.
'"There are already enough turbines either constructed or in the pipeline to meet the 100 per cent target for 2020. Communities across Scotland, already feeling under siege from wind companies, will ask why we need to keep building more and more.
'"What Scotland needs is a balanced energy policy. With major power stations at Longannet, Hunterston and Torness all set to close in the next eight years, and with the SNP proposing nothing to replace them, we are facing an energy gap which intermittent wind power cannot fill.
'"Even with all these turbines, we will be left having to import power from England to keep the lights on."
See 'Gagging on Wind Power', below.
RWE Innogy UK are back with a revised proposal for 9-11 turbines, "up to 130m" high, on the same site as their refused Rowantree scheme.
In December 2009, RWE submitted a planning application to Scottish Ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for a wind farm at the same location as Longmuir Rigg, known as Rowantree Wind Farm. The proposed development was for 23 turbines with a tip height of up to 120.5m. Following Public Local Inquiry (PLI) and based on recommendations of the Inquiry Report to Scottish Ministers, the S36 application was ultimately refused in May 2014. The three main planning issues to development outlined in the Inquiry Report were: the higher noise limit being sought; impacts upon landscape character and appearance; and impacts upon the integral functioning of Eskdalemuir Seismic Array.
RWE claim that, "The main reason the scheme was refused was because the Reporter did not accept the applicant's proposal for the higher cumulative noise limit. This was due to the cumulative impact of Rowantree Wind Farm operating alongside the operational Toddleburn Wind Farm."
SBC Ref. 15/00334/SCO.
The Times (Paywalled), 20 March, 2015
'The head of Scotland's largest charity has criticised repeated and "shocking" breaches of planning regulations by ministers in their apparently relentless determination to construct wind farms.
'Kate Mavor, the outgoing chief executive of the National Trust for Scotland, claimed the SNP administration's approach to energy was "just to build a big wind farm".
Euan Mearns has an interesting article on the possible consequences of the massive wind capacity which is being built, consented and brought forward in Scotland. This is a subject which does not seem to much trouble the politicians despite very considerable future economic and societal costs of their laissez faire renewables policy.
Euan's analysis focuses on the "vast electricity surplus that Scotland will produce on windy days in the years ahead". As he points out, "that surplus has to be paid for". He asks "where will it go and how will it be used?"
Euan Mearns, 'Scotland Gagging on Wind Power', Energy Matters, 12 January, 2015.
The Scotsman, 5 March, 2015
'Wind turbines can now be seen from almost half of all places in Scotland, according to the latest figures from the government's nature agency.
'A new Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) report shows the scale of areas affected has more than doubled in the past five years, from 19.9 per cent in 2008 to 45.9 per cent in 2013.
'Anti-wind campaigners have condemned the report as out of date, since it only accounts for turbines that were already operational by the end of 2013.
'The true picture is "much grimmer", they say, since a number of further schemes have already been constructed and many more are being developed.
'Linda Holt, a spokeswoman for anti-wind-farm alliance Scotland Against Spin, said: "The situation is actually much grimmer as hundreds of giant industrial turbines have been erected in the last 15 months, and thousands more are due to be erected or are in the planning process."
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland in calling for no further industrial developments to be permitted in the areas of wild land:
"To ensure that Scotland's precious remaining areas of wild land, as identified by Scottish Natural Heritage's wild land map, are fully protected from large scale development.
"To change current Scottish planning policy to clarify that planning applications for industrial developments in such areas will be unacceptable. Examples of such applications include the Talladh a' Bheithe wind farm at Rannoch, and the Allt Duine wind farm in the Monadhliath mountains."
Berwickshire News, 14 January, 2015.
'Safety fears have led to the shutdown of Longpark wind farm near Stow after part of a turbine blade was found on the road side.
'A probe by the farm operators and the makers of the 19 turbines – each 110 metres high – is under way amid claims that at least three more components are missing.
'Stow businessman Graeme Steel spotted the large fibreglass spoiler on Tuesday at Allanshaws on the road between Stow and Wooplaw.
'It's thought the unit was brought down by high winds and the Health and Safety Executive, police and Scottish Borders Council have all been alerted.
'Mr Steel, who lives nearby, says the incident raises safety issues for Longpark and similarly-designed wind farms.
Natural Power/Fred Olsen Renewables are consulting on yet another Section 36 application to the Scottish Government: 'Crystal Rig Phase IV'. The proposal is for another 17 turbines, up to 135m in height, on areas surrounding their huge Crystal Rig complex.
Another application, 'Crystal Rig 3', for six 100m and 110mm turbines was rubber-stamped by the Scottish *government in June, 2015. These turbines are to the north of the 86 turbines of the previous Crystal Rig phases 1, 1a, 2 and 2a, and north west of the contiguous 16 turbines of Aikengall 1.
One would think that any further expansion of the Lammermuirs turbine landscape should be considered in the light of the fact that Crystal Rig and Fallago Rig, where a large extension is apparently being planned, are routinely paid large amounts to constrain output from their existing turbines because the grid cannot handle too much intermittent load on the system.
Crystal Rig holds the record for the highest contraint rate ever paid: £991/MWh, over twenty times the average wholesale electricity price. They also have the dubious honour of offering the lowest rate for community payments: only £1K per MW of installed capacity, at their Phase 3 scheme. The going rate in Scotland, and now in England, is a minimum of £5K/MW.
SBC Ref. 14/00915/SCO.
Scottish Government, Electricity consents Unit
Constraint Payments: Crystal Rig & Fallago Rig (from the REF database).
Privately-owned speculative developers 'Community Windpower' have lodged an application for yet another extension, of nineteen 145m and 125m turbines, to their Aikengall complex. The site is to the south of their operational Aikengall I (16 x 125m) and recently consented Aikengall II (19 x 125m) schemes on the eastern edge of the Lammermuirs, near Innerwick.
Part of the site was included in their previous Aikengall II application until the 8 turbines in Scottish Borders territory were withdrawn after an objection from the Council.
Scottish Borders Council objected to the initial iteration of the scheme and Councillors have now voted (2 March, 2015), against officer advice, to oppose the revised plans. This will at least ensure that the scheme is examined at a public inquiry rather than being approved in secret by the Scottish Government.
This scheme will be very obtrusive in its siting on the Monynut Edge and will be hugely visible from the East Lothian coast to North Northumberland.
Scottish Government, Electricity Consents Unit.
Documents on ELC planning page: N/A.
Documents on SBC planning page: Planning Ref. 13/00722/S36.
Response group: Save The Lammermuirs (STL).
ABO Wind's application for eight 125m turbines at Barrel Law, close to the consented Langhope Rig site, near Ashkirk, was thrown out by Scottish Borders Council last year. An appeal has now been dismissed (19/08/2014).
Reporter Michael Cunliffe ruled that the wind farm's contribution towards renewable electricity targets and reduced carbon emissions did not outweigh its "unacceptable adverse impacts on the landscape and on aviation".
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2046.
SBC Planning Ref. 12/00191/FUL
'Appeal dismissed', Southern Reporter, 21 August, 2014.
Herald Scotland, Sunday, 31 August 2014
'The boss of a renewable energy company which is investing millions in the Highlands has apologised for making a series of offensive comments about gays and disabled people on social media.
'ABO Wind UK manager Matt Braund referred on Facebook to "homsexual [sic] retarded" sportsmen, urged lesbians to stop looking like men, and described singer Cheryl Cole as "just a stupid geordie spastic". He also said the late Boyzone star Stephen Gately, who died at the age of 33, "had it coming". Gately was hailed as a hero of gay rights before his death.
'ABO Wind UK, a subsidiary of a German-based offshore wind company, said last year it was spearheading a £390 million investment programme in the Highlands.
'One initiative in Sutherland is up and running and ABO Wind is also investigating the "potential" for a 25-turbine development in the Kilmorack Community Council area.
'The firm's Inverness office was also opened last year by Scottish Government Energy Minister Fergus Ewing.
'However, Braund, ABO Wind UK's project development manager, is now in the spotlight over a series of inappropriate comments on social media.
'In May 2010, a day after the General Election, Braund wrote: ""Can't understand why we don't get rid of the public sector once and for all. Fed up with this country being brought down by too much money being spent on work shy t***s who don't have the balls to get jobs and lower my tax bill."
Border Telegraph, 7 June, 2014.
'Councillors of all party political hues and none have combined to send a clear signal to the Scottish Government that this region is at saturation point when it comes to "inappropriate" wind farms.
'Even the SNP group, whose government at Holyrood has set a target of generating 100% of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020, joined the clamour for local decision-making on wind farm planning applications to be binding.
'The call came at last week's SBC meeting when Conservative councillor Keith Cockburn (Tweeddale West) proposed a motion demanding that council leader David Parker writes to the Scottish Government to express concern over the sustainability of the targets and the impact on the Borders countryside of the current policy.
'In an impassioned speech, Councillor Cockburn claimed the Holyrood government had allowed the number of wind farms in the Borders to get out of control.
BBC News, 18 June, 2014.
'Nine wind farm companies have objected to a council's attempts to curb future developments within its area.
'A new development plan for the Scottish Borders authority highlights the cumulative landscape impact of the growing number of turbines.
'It asks the Scottish government to be cautious in approving any more.
'Wind farm developers have voiced concerns about that stance which they say is contrary to national targets for renewable energy.
'According to Scottish Borders Council there are already 306 turbines in the region.
'Ten more are under construction - and another 41 have received planning permission.
'A draft of the authority's new local development plan advocates caution in further wind farm expansion - fearing "adverse and cumulative impacts on landscape".
'In addition, a letter to the Scottish government - which will ultimately have to ratify the plan - asks that ministers do not overrule council planning decisions should developers appeal.
Landscape conservation groups from across the Borders have joined forces to protect the area's unique and beautiful landscape and amenity. The Chair of the newly constituted Borders Network of Conservation Groups (BNCG), John Williams, said, "We have strengthened our Borders-wide organisation so that we can step up our campaign to safeguard the enormous value that the Borders landscape brings to the economy, culture, recreation and ecology of the area. Everyone who lives, works and invests in the Borders, including tourists and visitors, benefits from the unique beauty and amenity of this special part of Scotland."
"The biggest threat to the Borders is coming from the rush to erect as many wind farms as possible before subsidies are reduced in 2017, and restrictions due to the MOD's seismic monitoring at Eskdalemuir are relaxed. developers appear to have no concern for the devestating effect that increasing numbers of ever-larger wind turbines have on our landscape and communities, and the Network will be concentrating its efforts on protecting the Borders in the face of this onslaught."
The newly constituted Network will now adopt a strategic approach for concerted action. Vice Chair, Mark Rowley, explained: "If the brakes are not applied now, the Borders will very soon become the Land of a Thousand Turbines. Our member groups all believe that the Scottish Government and Scottish Borders Council should each do all in their power to halt this 'wind rush' temporarily so as to take stock. There are at least three good reasons for this:
The other Network Vice Chair, Professor Jack Ponton, said, "We will be meeting with the Leader of the Scottish Borders Council and its Chief Executive on 17 June to discuss matters of mutual interest when we hope to be able to suggest constructive ways in which the Council can fulfill its obligations to protect and promote the Borders' heritage , people and economy. In the near future, other political leaders and government officials can expect to hear more from us. We're not going away."
The Scottish Government has quietly released details of the latest proposals in relation to the operation of the Eskdalemuir Seismic Array. While it is intended to firm up the core restriction area in the immediate vicity of the array, where no development has been proposed to date, objections by the MOD to development in the wider 50km consultation zone will be lifted.
The Eskdalemuir Working Group (EWG) has concluded that it would be advisable to extend the current 10km Exclusion Zone, where wind development is not permitted, to 15km (this would continue to be sited entirely within Scotland). The report states that, "Subject to the conclusions drawn from that consultation, The Scottish Government intends to seek powers to introduce a statutory non-development zone with a radius of 15km from the centre of the Array."
The report also states that, "This interim guidance coincides with the withdrawal of objections (in relation to the operation of the seismological monitoring station) from the MOD to wind development proposals within the 50km Consultation Zone that were submitted prior to December 2013 – these all lie outwith the proposed 15km exclusion zone. In addition, the MOD has committed to use its best endeavours to withdraw objections to proposals which have come forward since December 2013, in advance of a fully functional IT solution being developed for calculating the budget implications of these proposals and in accordance with this interim guidance."
Full details are available on the Scottish Government website: scroll down to 'Eskdalemuir Seismic Array'.
Banks Renewables have submitted a Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for fifteen 132m turbines at Birneyknowe, near Hawick.
SBC Planning Ref. 14/00530/S36.
Scottish Government - ECU website.
Developer website.
The nineteen 100/110m turbines at Long Park (Halkburn) started operation in October 2009. The application had been refused by Scottish Borders Council in 2005 on grounds of its landscape impacts. That local decision was, like nearly all other appeals at that time, overturned by a Scottish Government Reporter.
Wind Prospect, on behalf of French-owned energy conglomerate EDF, are now back for more, with a proposal to build a further ten 110m turbines.
Scottish Borders Council's Special Planning Guidance identified this area as unsuitable for further development, even before the huge cumulative pressure of other applications in the area. However, as the extension will bring the site capacity to over 50MW, this is a 'Section 36' application which will be decided directly by the Scottish Government.SBC has endorsed the view of planners that the proposal would give the scheme an "unbalanced and more prominent appearance" and detract from the character of the landscape. The council's objection to the ECDU also cites "the harmful and inappropriate visual impacts on the residential amenity of Stow" as well as the "lack of certainty in relation to potential impacts on noise sensitive receptors, including private residences".
The Environmental Statement (ES) can be viewed at the following locations:
A Public Exhibition on the proposal will be held on 22 April from 3pm to 7pm at Stow Village Hall.
SBC Scoping Ref. 12/01274/SCO
Sc. Govt. ECU Website.
Longpark Extension ES documents.
Sunday Post, 30 March, 2014, - Pt. 3 of the Sunday Post's special investigation.
'Scotland is braced for a wind farm explosion over the next few years with councils struggling to cope with a mountain of planning applications.
'The Sunday Post has learned the number of turbines could rise 10-fold as energy giants, farmers and landowners swamp local authorities with proposals.
'More than 210 wind farms are already operational across Scotland, with at least 2,440 turbines between them.
'But figures obtained under freedom of information show a staggering 1,898 applications have either been granted by councillors or are still to be considered.
'Among those are plans for 50 giant turbines, each 149.5 metres tall, in the South Kyle forest in East Ayrshire, and a staggering 700 separate developments in Aberdeenshire.
The Sunday Post has published a special investigation which shows that wind farm operators in Scotland have been given £1.8 billion in subsidies since the SNP took office in 2007.
Another £80 million has been spent in constraint payments: paying energy companies not to produce when wind-generated power is not needed on the grid.
Some £800,000 a day has been paid out, with the costs recouped from consumer bills. This has left the average household £69 worse off per year, with huge rises of this figure in prospect as thousands more turbines are built.
There is also concern at growing numbers of schemes in Scotland that are subject to Connect & Manage (C&M) agreements, where operators can be paid for years before a grid connection is available to take any power generated:
"1.1 Background to Connect & Manage (C&M) Following consultation on models for improving grid access, the Department of Energy and ClimateChange (DECC) introduced the enduring C&M regime in July 2010 with an implementation date of 11 August 2010. Under this access regime, generators are offered connection dates based on the time taken to complete a project's 'enabling works', i.e. ahead of the completion of any wider transmission system reinforcements required under the security standards. Connecting generators ahead of the completion of wider works may result in additional constraints on the National Electricity TransmissionSystem. Under the C&M regime any costs arising from the management of these constraints are socialised." (National Grid, 'Quarterly Report on the Connect and Manage Regime, 01 July 2013 – 30 September 2013').
'Socialised' means that costs are spread across all Grid users. Consumers pay, whether domestic or industrial. Industry are, of course, forced to pass their rising costs on to the consumer in rising prices for goods and services.
There is growing concern at the scale of renewables subsidies, constraint costs and grid re-engineering and expansion costs, all of which are passed on to the consumer at a time of growing fuel poverty.
Herald Scotland, Colin McInnes, 24 February, 2014.
'While the focus of the UK nuclear sector is on the new-build programme, recent results from EDF remind us that existing nuclear capacity is still a major player in the UK energy scene.
'Their nuclear fleet is now delivering more electrical energy than at any time during the past eight years, resulting in a boost for operating profits. And with a 10-year life-extension for Dungeness B due to be finalised later this year, nuclear investments from the 1970s and 80s will still be paying dividends for many years to come.
'Nowhere is the contribution of the UK nuclear fleet more apparent than in Scotland, with two reactors at Hunterson and Torness. Though a little-known fact, through these two compact plants, nuclear is the largest generator of electrical energy in Scotland by some margin, as it has been for many years. Indeed, the output from the single nuclear plant at Torness alone (9 TWh) comfortably exceeds the combined output of every wind, wave and solar generator in Scotland (8.3 TWh). This clearly illustrates the benefit of energy-dense fuels used in compact and efficient thermal plants, which can provide continuous output over a plant life of many decades.
'While Scotland is pitched as the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, it's steadfastly nuclear-powered.
'In contrast, the arbitrary government target of generating the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's electrical energy consumption from diffuse and intermittent renewable resources by 2020 is perplexing. While climate change targets are mooted as one of the primary motivations, Scotland's electrical energy generation is in fact already 100% low carbon, as measured against the government's own metric.
'In 2012, Scottish electrical energy consumption was 30.8 TWh, while production from our two compact nuclear plants was 17.0 TWh, all wind, wave and solar production was 8.3 TWh, hydro 4.8 TWh and other renewables 1.6 TWh.
'Output from low carbon sources therefore exceeded domestic consumption, a fact that is rarely noted, or indeed celebrated by government and environmental NGOs. To do so would be to acknowledge the reality of the immense contribution of nuclear energy to Scotland's electrical energy production, and indeed its exports to the rest of the UK.
(Colin McInnes is Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Strathclyde).
Herald Scotland, 8 February, 2014.
'An area of unspoilt Scotland the size of Sutherland has been lost to development over four years, according to new figures.
'Conservationists who have raised fears over the visual impact on Scotland's scenery say the proliferation of wind farms is largely to blame.
'The study carried out by Scottish Natural Heritage reveals a dramatic decline in the nation's countryside, with building carried out on nearly 2000 square miles of unspoilt Scotland over one four-year period alone.
'Conservation groups fighting to ensure Scottish Government planning regulations provide better protect the nation's precious landscape fear it has already been "trashed".
'The developed area of Scotland rose from 65% (19,890 square miles) in 2008 to 71.4% (21,732 square miles) in 2012.
'The research reveals the key reason for the dramatic change in recent years is wind turbines.
'An analysis of that four-year change shows the proportion of visual impact caused by turbines has more than doubled, from 19.9% in 2008 to 41.7% in 2012.
'The SNH research also shows the proportion of Scottish land that could be counted as being "without visual influence of built development" has dropped by 31% over 10 years from 12,476 square miles in 2002 to 8,824 square miles in 2012.
'Twelve years ago it was estimated 41% of Scotland was unspoilt by development. In 2012 it was 29%.
Developers Banks Renewables are investigating the building of seven 125m turbines in the Heriot area, close to the existing Carcant turbine array.
Banks currently have an application in for an 80m anemometer mast.
A scoping application is expected early in 2014.
Mast Application Ref. 13/01354/FUL.
The revised application for nine 125m turbines was refused 6:2, following officer recommendation on 30 June, 2015.
The proposal threatened the setting of Hermitage Castle and had attracted objections from the Duke of Buccleuch and Historic Scotland.
Going by previous experience, there is every likelihood that the developers will appeal the decision to the Scottish Government.
SBC Planning Ref. 13/00789/FUL.
Local Response Group: Hermitage Action Group(HAG).
See: objection letter framework.
'Duke joins objectors to wind firm in Borders', The Herald, 5 August 2013.
Telegraph, 4 November, 2013.
EDF Energy was handed £2.99 million between April 29 and October to shut down turbines on the Fallago Rig wind farm, which is on land owned by the Duke of Roxburghe in Scottish Borders.
The "constraint payments", which averaged around £500,000 per month, ultimately come from electricity bills and are given to wind farm companies for not producing energy during periods of high generation or low demand.
See constraints payments database on the REF website.
A YouGov poll for the John Muir Trust on 26 June 2013 reveals overwhelming support for the proposal that "the 20 per cent of Scotland's landscape identified as 'core wild land' – rugged, remote and free from modern visible human structures – should be given be special protection from inappropriate development including wind farms."
On a five-point scale ranging from 'strongly support' to 'strongly oppose', 40 per cent said they would 'strongly support' protection for Scotland's wild land, while a further 35 per cent 'tend to support' the proposal. Only 2 per cent 'strongly oppose' protection, while just 4 per cent 'tend to oppose' it. Of the remainder, 14 per cent 'neither support nor oppose' the proposals, with five per cent undecided.
Support for wild land to be free from wind farms and other inappropriate development is almost evenly spread across Scotland's political parties and social classes. There is also decisive backing for wild land protection across all age groups.
With the Scottish Government's planning policy out to public consultation (find out more here), and an official map of Scotland's core wild land on the table (see the map), Stuart Brooks, chief executive of the John Muir Trust, said that the poll provides the government with an "overwhelming mandate to introduce robust wild land protection."
The figures in the diagram refer to the proportion of Scotland's landmass from which wind turbines are visible, as set out in Scottish Natural Heritage document 'Natural Heritage Indicator: Visual influence of built development (May 2013)'. The final figure with a question mark is an estimate based on the assumption that the rate of increase between 2008 and 2010 (the latest figure available) was sustained until 2012.
A passionate analysis by John Mackay of the landscape destruction we are all witnessing.
In an unprecedented move, as MSPs return to their constituencies for the summer parliamentary recess, eight organisations concerned with conservation, wild lands and access to the countryside have jointly issued an open letter calling for greater protection for Scotland's landscapes.
Leaders of the organisations – The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, the John Muir Trust, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, the Munro Society, the National Trust for Scotland, Ramblers Scotland, The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society and the Scottish Wild Land Group – between them representing over 350,000 members, welcome moves by the Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage to safeguard Scotland's landscapes but say that their existing proposals do not go far enough:
"We support the increased protection proposed for National Parks and National Scenic Areas, although this merely formalises the present de facto position.
"Such protection should apply also where development is proposed beyond their boundaries that would impact on the very qualities they were established to safeguard."
In the letter, the organisations also question whether or not the wording of the draft Scottish Planning Policy and National Planning Framework is tight enough:
"The current draft states that (in National Nature Reserves and other important areas) wind power developments will be acceptable 'where it can be demonstrated that any significant effects on the qualities for which the area is identified can be substantially improved by siting, design or mitigation.'
"This will allow inappropriate developments to be approved because of lack of clarity in using subjective words such as 'significant' and 'substantially' when set against the primacy afforded in government policy to economic and energy development."
The organisations also raise concern that local democratic processes may be undermined by national-level decision-making:
"If local authorities and their electorates think particular local landscapes are important then this should not be over-ridden nationally."
Speaking on behalf of the eight organisations, the Chairman of the National Trust for Scotland, Sir Kenneth Calman said:
"As MSPs return to their constituencies over the summer we hope that all, whether in Government or opposition, give serious consideration to the landscape around them and what it represents for the people they represent.
"Recent surveys, such as the one undertaken by the John Muir Trust and one conducted by my own charity, show that a majority of Scots are very greatly concerned about the future of our wild lands and local landscapes. This is why we have come together to put our names to this open letter – our landscapes need better protection and this is what the people of Scotland want.
"Our iconic landscapes are key to our economic and environmental future and our collective wellbeing – they must not be sacrificed to over-development through oversight or short-term thinking."
The Scottish Wild Land Group (SWLG) is a wild land charity which was established in 1982 to protect and conserve wild land in Scotland, it campaigns on a wide range of issues.
A special edition of Wild Land News focusing on wind farms in Scotland has been published and is now available to buy or read online.
The Scotsman, 5 May, 2013.
'POWER companies operating wind farms in Scotland were paid more than £1 million to shut down their turbines for a single day last month, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.
'New figures reveal that £1,146,614 was handed out to the operators of 13 Scottish wind farms, including £296,457 to a development built on land owned by the Duke of Roxburghe.
'The cash, which ultimately comes from electricity consumers' bills, was given to companies as part of a controversial scheme which compensates wind farm operators for not producing electricity.
'The so-called "constraint payments" are paid by the National Grid to energy companies when energy supply outstrips demand – turbines are switched off so they stop producing electricity to rebalance the system.
'A snapshot of the scale of the payments was provided by the Renewable Energy Foundation, a charity that publishes information on the energy sector, which compiled constraint payment data for 29 April.
'The largest sum paid out on that date was £348,349, which was to shut off the Crystal Rig II wind farm operated by energy company Fred Olsen in East Lothian.
'The second-biggest beneficiary was the Fallago Rig Wind Farm run by EDF on land it rents from Roxburghe in the Lammermuir Hills.
"British wind farms may be shut down about 38 days per year by 2020 to avoid power transmission overload at times of weak demand and high wind speeds, UK energy network operator National Grid said on Monday. Britain is expected to increase wind power capacity seven-fold by 2020 to 26.8 gigawatts (GW), according to National Grid data, which would put additional strain on the transmission network." (Reuters, 13 June, 2011).
There is an extraordinary difference in the levels of payments to different producers. While many coal- and gas-fuelled power stations will curtail output at little (£20-£50/MWh) or no cost becasue they are saving fuel, some wind operators have managed to extort huge sums in constraint payments (up to £991/MWh, when wholesale price is around £50/MWh and subsidy level is less).
Check the rates for different wind farms on the REF database. For example:
REF Website - Crystal Rig payments.
East Lothian News, 18 March 2013.
'Most of East Lothian has been ruled out as being suitable for further development of large scale windfarms by council planning chiefs.
'Speaking at a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday, Ian Glen, policy and projects manager, said other than the Monynut area, south west of Oldhamstocks, where 19 wind turbines were to be installed, the rest of the county should be identified as an 'Area of Significant Restraint.'
'This, he explained, would mean that windfarms over 12 megawatts – equivalent to four of the larger 125 metre turbines at Aikengall near Dunbar – would not be supported.
'Draft planning guidance for windfarms of more than 12 megawatts has been drawn up by the council and this will now go out to public consultation for a period of not less than six weeks.
Telegraph, 15 March, 2013.
'Onshore wind farms support barely 2,000 jobs in Scotland despite Alex Salmond's claim they are a major source of employment, ministers have admitted.
'Fergus Ewing, the SNP Energy Minister, published figures showing there are 2,235 posts "connected directly to onshore wind", less than a fifth of the total for all forms of green power.
'Mr Salmond last year told MSPs that 18,000 Scots were employed in renewable energy before downgrading that total to 11,000 by requesting the Scottish Parliament written record of proceedings be secretly changed.
Banks Renewables, part of the private coal mining, property and waste group, had their application for thirteen 100m/115m turbines at Quixwood, near Grantshouse, consented on 1 April. The committee was split 5:5, with the scheme being approved on the Chairman's vote.
This will add to the rash of turbine developments along the A1 corridor and threatens further cumulative degradation of tourist landscapes in the eastern Lammermuirs and of the Southern Uplands Way, which will soon have to be renamed the 'Southern Uplands Turbine Track'.
SBC Appl. Ref. 11/01662/FUL.
Berwickshire News, 14 March
'THE DECISION to approve a wind turbine application on appeal has been labelled "a disgrace" by a community council in Berwickshire.
'Cockburnspath Community Council says it will lodge an official complaint to Scottish Borders Council about the proceedure used to uphold an appeal.
'Two planning applications for two wind turbines at Neuk Farm/Kinegar Quarry near Cockburnspath were originally turned down.
'The first time was for turbines 130m high. After energy company Wind Direct Ltd appealed the decision, Scottish Borders Council's Local Review Body also rejected it.
'Wind Direct submitted a new application, this time for 110m-high turbines. It was also thrown out by planners. But when it was appealed again, the Local Review Body, made up of five councillors, approved the application by three votes to two, meaning the turbines can now be erected.
'The only Berwickshire councillor on the Local Review Body was Councillor Jim Fullarton. He voted to refuse the application and said: "I echo the dismay of the local community." Intimating that the decision showed "inexperience", Councillor Fullarton added: "The key thing was how it stood beside the three turbines at Hoprig, and the only way to determine that was for a site visit and look at the view points. But the other members of the review body wouldn't agree."[...]'
SBC planning ref. 12/00221/FUL.
Berwickshire News, 11 February, 2013.
'A BORDERS wide wind alliance has called for a mandatory 2km separation between wind turbines and homes.
'Action groups from across the Borders - and both East and West Lothian - have called for the current guideline of a minimum of 2km between wind turbines and homes and businesses to be made compulsory to mitigate the impact of wind farms on people's welfare.
'The new Borders wide network, formed last month, has already warned that unless drastic action is taken to halt turbine creep from the hills, hundreds of new turbines could soon ruin the region's biggest asset, its landscape, and its tourist industry, spoiling the peace and tranquillity enjoyed by Borderers and tourists alike.
'Mr David Walmsley, chairman of Minto Hills Conservation Group which is a member of the network, said: "The Conservatives' recent attack on Scottish Government energy policy called for the enforcement of a 2km protection zone to be observed between turbines and habitations.
'"The Government's Minister for Energy, Fergus Ewing MSP, countered that 'there is already guidance that suggests a 2km barrier between wind farms and settlements'.
'"So, are we now to see the Scottish Government and planning authorities actually observe this 'guidance' - or is the guidance merely a cover to give an appearance that the Scottish Government does care for its people?[...]'
TCI Renewables are proposing to develop a nine-turbine site just to the north of the A697 at Rumbletonrig, near Greenlaw.
Another proposal for either two or five 100m turbines is being screened on the other side of the A697, at Rumbletonlaw.
A screening response from Scottish Borders Council sets out possible objections to even small numbers of large industrial turbines in this landscape, in close proximity to the A697.
Rumbletonlaw screening documents:
Two turbines: 12/01317/SCR.
Five turbines: 12/01319/SCR
The Scotsman, 30 December 2012.
'A THIRD of wind farm applications that are originally knocked back by local authorities are later approved by the SNP government.
'A survey of onshore wind farm applications found that SNP ministers have overruled council decisions on 20 occasions since January.
'Of the 63 appeals referred to the government after an application was refused by a council, in 43 cases the original ′decision was upheld. For 20 applications the decision was overturned and the application was waved through.
Southern Reporter, 24 November, 2012.
'A furious row has broken out over claims that the Borders has seen the largest increase in wind farm applications in Scotland.
'Figures from the Scottish Conservatives, via a freedom of information request, shows bids from green energy firms have jumped from just 17 between 1999 and 2007, to 253 in the past five years – a rise of 1,388 per cent.
'The Tories' local MSP John Lamont put the incredible surge in renewable power bids down to the Scottish National Party's "reckless" energy policies since it took control of Holyrood five years ago.
The Scotsman, 21 November2012.
'ALEX Salmond was at the centre of a fresh row last night over misleading MSPs and accusations of attempting to cover it up by "doctoring" official records at Holyrood.
'The SNP leader is facing claims he has undermined the "integrity of parliament" after inflating the number of "green" jobs in Scotland in response to opposition pressure over wind farms.
'He told MSPs in Holyrood on 25 October there were 18,000 jobs created by industries such as wind farms and hydro power, when there are only 11,000.
'The SNP government is also facing claims of concealing the mistake after it emerged that the official record in parliament had been changed without MSPs being publicly notified.
Press & Journal, 17 November, 2012.
'Scientists who supplied the data used by the Scottish Government to help judge windfarm applications have called for an end to developments on peatlands.
'Jo Smith, Dali Rani Nayak and Pete Smith from Aberdeen University have expressed grave doubts about the wisdom of the policy in a letter to the journal Nature.
'The team previously helped develop the "carbon calculator", which is used by the Scottish Government and energy companies to assess the impact of windfarms on carbon emissions.
'It measures whether the construction of a windfarm on peatland will result in more carbon being released than would be saved during the development's 25-year lifespan.
'Like rainforests, peatlands — which are formed from decomposing wet vegetable matter — lock in carbon. In their letter to The Journal, the team say they believe that building large-scale windfarms on healthy peatlands may be self-defeating because of the disturbance and dessication caused during the construction process.
Some 70% of Scottish wind turbine arrays are built on peatlands. The wind industry, and Scottish Government, have done everything they can to downplay the peat problem.
Memorably, when planning officials at Shetland Islands Council tried to get advice from the Sottish Government on the likely impact on peat of the 150-turbine Viking Wind Farm they were advised by a planning official at the Scottish Government that he was not aware of a particular source of expertise on the carbon accounting query.
In what the Shetland Council staff member, Hannah Nelson, then described to colleagues in an e-mail as a "surprising response", the official added: "Given that government (and also government planning) policy is in favour of wind and other renewables, I wouldn't encourage you to query the carbon benefits of wind farms." ('Greenhouse Gas threat from Wind', The Scotsman, 12 June 2010).
Telegraph, 1 Nov 2012
'A wind farm developer has withdrawn a leaflet claiming wind turbines do not affect house prices following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.
'The move follows an objection from an anti–wind farm campaigner who complained about material handed out by Wind Prospect Developments Ltd at an exhibition on a proposed 12–turbine development in Midlothian, Scotland.
'The leaflet, produced by the industry trade body RenewableUK, claimed that it was a "myth" that wind farms reduced the value of nearby houses.
But following the complaint from Celia Hobbs, from Penicuik, who has been fighting wind farm proposals for seven years, the ASA confirmed that Wind Prospect had provided a written assurance that it would not use the leaflet again.
The wind industry trade body is still claiming that:
"Myth: Wind farms negatively affect tourism
Fact: There is no evidence to suggest this." (RenewableUK/BWEA, 'Top myths about wind energy', No. 11).
The John Muir Trust (JMT) has today, 4 November, 2012, released the results of a YouGov poll which clearly contradicts wind industry claims on tourism.
The JMT poll shows that:
43 per cent of people in Britain who visit scenic areas in the UK for their natural heritage and beauty would be 'less likely to visit a scenic area with a large concentration of wind farms'
Just 2 per cent say they would be 'more likely to visit a scenic area with a large concentration of wind farms'.
In Scotland, the respective figures are 36 per cent who would be less likely to visit and 2 per cent who would be more likely to visit.
This is the first national poll to measure the level of public support for large scale wind farms in our valuable natural landscapes. It is also the first poll to gauge the potential impact on tourism in areas like the Scottish Highlands, where large scale wind projects have been built or are in the pipeline. Previous polls have sought only to measure general support for wind power. The Trust believes that it's possible to support wind power while opposing the building of turbines on important areas of wild land.
The John Muir Trust took advice from YouGov on the wording of the questions to avoid any suggestion that they were loaded or biased.
"Scotland's tourist chiefs have admitted for the first time that wind farms could have a detrimental effect on tourism" ('VisitScotland admits wind farms could harm tourism', The Herald, 21 October, 2012).
Of course it has long been common knowledge as well as common sense and recorded fact, even in pro-wind surveys, that some tourists will avoid areas of countryside which have been industrialised with turbines and that turbines affect tourism investment in local economies. Now even VisitScotland, 'an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government', feels forced to defy wind industry/Scottish Government propaganda.
The wind industry claim has been discredited for years, even in urban-weighted generalist surveys where there is little evidence that people have ever stayed in the area of a turbine array or knew anything about them.
VisitScotland's 2011 'Wind Farm Consumer Research Topic Paper' (PDF download) found that 20% of UK respondents stated that the presence of a wind farm would affect their decision about where to visit or where to stay on a UK holiday or short break, although 33% of these respondents had either not seen a wind farm or could not remember having done so!
Research amongst tourism providers in the Borders commissioned by The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS) shows a much stronger response, with 76% of respondents stating that large scale turbines are unhelpful to marketing the area, and 69% saying that large scale turbines would be unhelpful in generating repeat business. A third (33%) of respondents had discussed the issue with customers or listened to their views, all of them reported that customers had negative views of turbine arrays.
'The Economic Value of Landscape in the Scottish Borders - Marketing, Acommodation, Businesses in the new Teviot Valleys Special Landscape Area - A survey of practices and opinions of business owners', September, 2012. (PDF download, 857Kb)
'Tourism will pay the price if views not protected', Herald Scotland, 4 November, 2012.
Press & Journal, 13 November, 2012.
'The Scottish Government was under fire last night after it emerged it has approved 83% of all major onshore windfarm applications submitted in the last five years.
'Official figures showed SNP ministers have given the go-ahead to 29 of 35 developments, many of them in the north-east, since taking power in 2007. Critics said the statistics were "alarming" and illustrated the government's obsession with wind power despite widespread concerns about the impact of turbines on the landscape and nearby communities.
'Conservative chief whip John Lamont claimed the figures sent out a message to big developers – "come straight to us and you have an 80% chance of success"
'Helen McDade, head of policy at conservation charity John Muir Trust, said there was a "high risk" of the planning system falling into disrepute, particularly given the government had the power to overrule public inquiry decisions. The governments — which has claimed tourists are largely indifferent to sensitively sited turbines — has set a target of generating 100% of electricity from renewables by 2020.
'Local authorities deal with smaller developments [consenting c. 60%, Ed.] but those more than 50MW require ministerial consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act.
The Telegraph, 28 October, 2012.
'The full extent of the pressure wind farm companies are putting on Scotland's planning system to build on 'unsuitable' sites can be disclosed today.
'Official figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph show they have quadrupled the number of appeals they have lodged against council decisions to reject planning permission.
'Scotland's local authorities received 14 appeals for rejected wind farm applications in 2008, a total that increased to 31 in 2011 and 60 so far this year.
'Even where the appeals are also rejected, wind farm companies are increasingly demanding the SNP administration in Edinburgh overturn the decision.
'The number of cases where a Scottish Government reporter has approved a wind farm has increased from a low of two in 2009 to five in 2011 to 19 so far this year.
'Earlier this year planning chiefs warned MSPs Scotland's countryside is in danger of becoming a "wind farm landscape" as ever more sensitive sites are targeted to achieve Alex Salmond's green energy targets.
'Councils have complained that many energy companies are submitting "opportunistic" applications in unsuitable areas in the hope that overstretched planning departments wave them through.
'They are being forced to divert millions of pounds of council taxpayers' money to deal with the influx after SNP ministers refused permission for a moratorium on wind farm applications.
'Struan Stevenson, a Tory MEP, said the figures illustrated the "war of attrition" being waged by energy companies to force through wind farm applications.
See also - 'Scottish Borders "on course for 1,000 wind turbines"' Telegraph, 9 November, 2012.
Berwickshire News, 24 October 2012
'Renewable energy and wind turbines not surprisingly attracted most comments when Scottish Borders Council's draft Local Development Plan was out for public consultation.
'Councillors at today's (Thursday) meeting are discussing the responses received on the main issues in the report and SBC's director of environment and infrastructure advised them: "The Main Issues Report has received a large number of responses in relation to onshore wind energy.
'"In view of the level of interest and concern in relation to this matter the council has commissioned further work to assess the potential impact of onshore wind energy proposals in respect of landscape capacity, economic impact and public perception."
'The results of this new piece of work are expected by the end of 2012 and councillors were being recommended to defer any decision on how to tackle renewable energy in the future Local Plan until spring 2013 when the Plan will have progressed from the 'draft' to the 'proposed' stage.
'Almost 100 responses said that the Scottish Borders "is already at saturation point in terms of wind turbines" and want the council to adopt an alternative policy of dealing with planning applications for wind turbines "by exception". The six objections to this prospective policy all came from wind farm companies.
'Berwickshire Civic Society has asked the council to "resist the SNP's order to identify more land for wind turbines". They add: "This will totally destroy the already blighted landscape and the health and business of the Borders communities.
The Southern Uplands Partnership, also take issue with how little reference there is in the Local Plan to single medium scale turbines and their cumulative effect.
The Scotsman, 18 October 2012
'A proposed wind turbine has sparked a row between East Lothian Council and the Scottish Government, after it was approved by ministers despite "flying in the face" of local planning policy.
'East Lothian Council has demanded an emergency meeting with national planning chiefs after approval was granted for the 78m turbine at Woodhall Farm, near Innerwick, was granted approval under appeal by a government reporter.
'Planners are upset at the decision due to their being in talks with the applicant Hector Macaskill and developer Arcus Renewables Ltd at the time of the appeal's submission.
'Council leader Willie Innes and depute leader Michael Veitch have now submitted a letter to Scottish Minister for Local Government and Planning Derek Mackay expressing "considerable dissatisfaction" with the decision and demanding a meeting.
'Councillor Veitch said: "I am appalled at the outcome of this appeal, which flies in the face of the council's locally-formulated policy. Both the council and the residents of East Lothian are entitled to demand an explanation from the Scottish Government as to why local concerns have been dismissed in this way."
'In the letter, the council concedes the developer's appeal to the government was based on its own failure to determine the application within the statutory period but emphasises that it acted "in good faith" and the appeal was submitted "without prior warning".
'The council also raises concern that the reporter gave little weight to a key document used in determining wind turbine planning applications – the East Lothian Supplementary Landscape Capacity Study for Smaller Wind Turbines – which says in the area around Woodhall Farm there is no scope for wind turbines.
Berwickshire News, 10 October, 2012
'The Scottish Government says it is "disappointed" at Scottish Borders Council's "negative language" when it comes to wind farm development.
'So disappointed in fact that government officials have asked for discussions with Borders planners "about the content of your current policy".
'The Scottish Government was consulted when Scottish Borders Council began drawing up a local plan for the region – laying out how the land should be designated. A Freedom of Information Request reveals the correspondence between the two bodies.
'Having consulted the Scottish Government in 2010 about their wind farm guidelines and received no formal objections, SBC's planners were surprised that the government has now decided they "do not comply with national requirements".
'The directorate for local government and communities, responding to the council's draft local plan proposals, said: "We are disappointed with the negative language used in the Main Issues Report around renewables and in particular onshore wind energy, which does not appear to be in the spirit of the SPP (Scottish Planning Policy).
'"We are concerned that authorities should also recognise the positive benefits of wind energy developments. It is regretable that the only alternative option suggested is a negative one stating that the Borders landscape is at saturation point for wind turbines.
Press & Journal, 11 October, 2012.
'Alex Salmond has defended onshore windfarms, saying they do not spoil the countryside and actually make Scotland more attractive.
'Campaigners branded the first minister "out of touch" last night – and warned that his stance on the issue would cost him victory in the independence referendum.
'The SNP leader told delegates at a renewable energy conference in Edinburgh that he did not think there was any serious evidence that windfarms were incompatible with the landscape.
Herald, 22 September, 2012.
'LARGE swathes of Scotland's forests are being sold off on long-term leases to wind-farm developers as Alex Salmond surges ahead with his vision to make Scotland a world-leading green energy powerhouse.
'An increased emphasis on turning over state-owned woodland to the renewables sector will quadruple the number of power-generating wind turbines in forests from about 850 to more than 3200 over the next eight years.
Partnership for Renewables and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) are progressing two large wind projects in the Borders. The sites are at Cloich Forest and Wauchope Forest. An Section 36 application for eighteen 132m turbines has been submitted to the Scottish Government for the Cloich Forest scheme.*
This is only the early expression of the policy which will eventually see thousand of acres of forest across Scotland cleared for wind development:
The National Forest Estate (NFE) – land owned by the Scottish Ministers and managed by FCS – extends to 665,000 hectares and has the potential to make a significant contribution to Scotland's renewable energy targets through wind and hydro power generation. The Climate Change (Scotland) Bill will allow Scottish Ministers to modify, by order, the functions of FCS so that it can play a greater role in tackling climate change and form corporate bodies and joint ventures with third parties, including developers and local communities in order to accelerate renewable energy development.
('Development Opportunity – Wind Power in Scotland Commercial Negotiation Process', FCS, 21 October, 2009).
Trees and peatlands, upon which 70% of Scottish turbine parks are built, are considered by many experts to be much more effective than wind turbines in reducing carbon emissions.
However FCS is a directorate of the Scottish Government, it is funded by the Scottish Parliament and directed by Scottish Ministers. As such it is a vehicle for the SNP government's policy of surrendering Scotland's landscapes for commercial wind development.
The more cynical would point out that there is more money in leases to wind speculators than in forestry!
* SBC Planning Reference 12/01283/S36.
The wind rush in the Eddleston area has sparked the formation of a new community response group: Protect Eddleston's Landscape & Environment (PELE).
'Wind and hydro power on the National Forest Estate', Forestry Commission Scotland website.
"The GP WIND project was set up to address barriers to the deployment of onshore and offshore wind energy generation". It "is co-funded by Intelligent Energy Europe Programme and coordinated by the Scotish [sic] Government".
Translation: 'A wind industry and government propaganda exercise, funded by the tax-payer'.
GP Wind website.
August 14, 2012
Anti-windfarm campaigners have welcomed plans by Scottish Borders Council to create nine new Special Landscape Areas (SLAs) in the region. They include the new area of Tweed, Ettrick and Yarrow Confluences.
It follows a review of the designated Areas of Great Landscape Value (AGLV) which were first drawn up half a century ago to protect the local countryside from "inappropriate development". It was claimed they had become outdated.
David Walmsley, chairman of the Minto Hills Conservation Group, said: 'We believe the planning staff at SBC should be congratulated for listening to local people's views. They have managed to strike the difficult balance between the many competing interests in the countryside and identify those areas which, although they must evolve and change over time if rural communities are to thrive, need extra protection from inappropriate development.*
"Our stunning countryside and vast uninterrupted views are the mainstay of the Scottish Borders' tourism industry which accounts for nearly one in 10 jobs. But talk to almost anyone – whether their families have lived here for generations or they are incomers, whether they are regular or occasional visitors – just why they like living, working or visiting the Borders, and most will mention our fabulous scenery.
"The new SLAs will help to ensure that the legacy we leave our children – and our children's children – is one that will encourage them, too, to live, work and visit this very special part of the world."
The report confirms previous AGLVs at Pentlands, Lammermuirs, Berwickshire Coast, Cheviots, Eildons and Tweedsmuir. It also adds three additional areas at Tweed Valley, Teviot Valleys and Tweed Lowlands.
A council spokesperson said: "The revised report has been agreed by the Planning and Building Standards Committee, and will now be used as a material consideration in the planning application process."
* The MHCG are currently fighting an application for a large commercial turbine in a sensitive landscape at Standhill, near Denholm. At 74m this turbine would be larger than the Dun Law wind farm turbines on Soutra Hill (Appl. Ref. 12/00345/FUL). This scheme is expected to be decided in October.
Minto Hills Conservation Group (MHCG)- Email: email@example.com
Sadly, the AGLV classification has not protected areas such as the Lammermuirs which, until this review, was in danger of losing its SLA classification purely due to the huge numbers of wind turbines which have now been built and consented. The Eastern Lammermuirs are now described by even the wind industry as," A well-established wind farm landscape" (Aikengall 2/Wester Dod planning application).
In a move which reveals the scale of the wind rush crisis in the Scottish Borders, the planning authority are asking for the withdrawal of several major wind farm planning applications in their current form.
The potential cumulative impact of multiple existing, consented and proposed wind farms is highlighted in letters sent to the developers of Blackburn, Hoprigshiels, Kinegar, Monashee, Penmanshiel and Quixwood schemes.
Representations are also made regarding Ferneylea, which is inside the East Lothian boundary. This scheme was refused locally and is currently being appealed.
The letters explain that SBC and Scottish Natural Heritage officers have carefully examined the various wind farm proposals in the East Berwickshire area. They conclude that:
The consensus of opinion relating to all the wind farm proposals is that none are compatible with the surrounding landscape [our emphasis]. The scale of the turbines is such that they appear too dominant in relation to everything else in the landscape. Important cultural heritage receptors would potentially be belittled and/or harmed. When a view is taken on the wind farms which have been built in the more domestic/agricultural landscape (as opposed to the Upland landscape where, for example, Crystal Rig and Aikengall have been built) it is clear that the scale of Drone Hill and Black Hill is more reasonable (less than 80m) if not ideal, whereas the 100m+ schemes have the potential to be overly dominant both in cumulative and intrinsic terms.
A similar level of over-development exists in the Lauderdale area of the Borders.
Monashee letter (PDF download).
See also:
'No temporary halt call on wind farm bids, says Frater', Southern Reporter, 9 July 2012.
The Telegraph, 31 May, 2012.
'Alex Salmond is gambling with Scotland's economy by placing a £46 billion "fantasy" bet on green energy despite its "catastrophic" record of making money, one of the world's leading banks has told MSPs.
Scottish Natural Heritage's footprint mapping, above, shows the huge spatial footprint of wind turbine arrays in Scotland as of August, 2012 (numbers have already increased). As things stand, we are moving towards 10% of the land area of the likes of South Lanarkshire and Dumfries & Galloway being sacrificed to turbine parks. These are just the site areas not the 'visual footprint' of turbine schemes (i.e. the area upon which they have a visual impact), which is massively larger.
As Sir Martin Holdgate, retired chairman of the Renewable Energy Advisory Group, put it: "The trouble with wind farms is that they have a huge spatial footprint for a piddling little bit of electricity."
The Telegraph, 20 March, 2012
Scotland's countryside will become a "wind farm landscape" as hundreds more turbines are built to meet the SNP's radical green energy targets, the country's most senior planning officials have warned.
In an extraordinary intervention, Heads of Planning Scotland (HoPS) has told MSPs that 10 per cent of Ayrshire, for example, has already been made available for development to renewable power companies.
With "less sensitive sites" reaching saturation point, they predicted public opposition will increase as more planning applications are made to build wind farms on "familiar" and fragile landscapes.
"The cumulative effects of additional wind farms will change an otherwise unaltered local landscape into a 'wind farm' landscape," they concluded.
In its submission to the Holyrood inquiry, Scottish National Heritage (SNH) warned the proposals cannot be achieved without "significant effect" on the country's natural environment and protection for species like the golden eagle.
Heads of Planning Scotland, 'Submission from Heads of Planning Scotland - Planning and Consents', 5 March 2012. (PDF document download).
Berwickshire News, 15 March 2012.
'Scottish Natural Heritage has just published a new set of windfarm guidelines at the same time that an opponent of large scale windfarms in the Lammermuirs warns that the number of turbines in the area is heading towards the one thousand mark.
'Highlighting the information in Scottish Borders Council's March summary of known windfarm development across the Scottish Borders Mark Rowley, chairman of Cranshaws, Ellemford and Longformacus Community Council said: "It includes only schemes from known public sources, so is likely to significantly underestimate the underlying pressure from (as yet) unknown progressing developments - ie the "Rumsfelds", the "unknown, unknowns".
'"This suggests there are currently; 236 major turbines at application; 65 with proposal of application notices lodged and progressing to application; 45 at public enquiry stage (Rowantree & Wester Dod awaiting decision); 11 via Scottish Government consent; 116 consented; 257 operational; 96 refused.
'"The number at application stage is likely to exceed 300 within the next few months and around another 250 or so are known to be at pre-application or scoping with unknown numbers in addition to those.
'"Welcome to the land of a thousand turbines!"
The SNP's green energy revolution will create as little as 300 permanent jobs compared to the near-50,000 projected by Alex Salmond, an industry expert has warned MSPs.
The Telegraph, 13 March, 2012.
'Richard Marsh, a renewable power economist, said the First Minister and green energy companies are "greatly exaggerating" the supposed benefits of their plan for a new swathe of wind and wave farms.
'While they insist that 48,600 jobs will be created by the end of the decade, he said the real number of long-term posts is more likely to be 1,100 but could be as low as 300.
'He will tell Holyrood's economy, energy and tourism committee tomorrow that the large difference is because the higher figure includes temporary construction jobs created while green energy projects are being installed.
'However, these will disappear after the building work has been completed. Mr Marsh concluded that the large taxpayer subsidy paid to green power companies means the industry is actually harming the Scottish economy.
'He said diverting public funding into the industry instead of projects where it would have more economic impact in effect means that every renewable power job costs 3.7 posts that would have arisen elsewhere.
Herald Scotland, 6 March, 2012.
'Electricity bills will rise by at least 58% if the UK Government is to meet its renewable energy target within the next eight years, according to an industry expert.
'Sir Donald Miller, who spent a lifetime as an engineer in the power industry, rising to chair both the South of Scotland Electricity Board and ScottishPower, warned the cost to households would increase by that amount if ministers were to meet their target of 30% or more of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020. It would mean the average annual electricity bill of £489 for Scottish homes would go up by £283.62 to more than £773 a year within the next eight years.
'The more ambitious Scottish Government target of generating the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's own electricity demand from renewable resources by 2020 would mean even greater rises in household bills, he warned.
'Sir Donald's calculations are contained in his submission to the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee's inquiry into the Scottish Government's targets.
A 30m Hannevind turbine near Coldingham was collapsed by its constructors, Maden Design and Build, after it suffered a brake failure in high winds on Wednesday, 7 December, 2011.
Lothian & Borders Police had overseen the evacuation of nearby houses and shut the A1107.
The turbine had been operating for only a couple of weeks. Swedish turbine manufacturers Hannevind were put into receivership shortly before the turbine was commissioned.
numbers of other other Hannevind turbines constructed by Maden Design in the Lothians, Borders and Northumberland were shut down for safety checks.
The Hannevind collapse follows that of Scottish turbine manufacturer Proven Energy, which went into receivership in September 2011 after serious faults occurred in its flagship P35-2 model, forcing the company to suspend sales and warn customers to stop using the 12kW turbine.
Hundreds of customers have had their turbines shut down for months. Proven has now been sold to the Irish construction group Kingspan, but, as with Hannevind, it is not clear where this leaves owners of turbines.
According to a letter from Maden Design to an SBC officer regarding an application for a replacement turbine, the client, "has suffered a total loss as a result of the manufacturer ceasing trading" (letter to SBC Officer, 6 March 2012).The new application is for a larger 32.4m (112.2 ft) Endurance E-3120 turbine. Nor are these turbines immune from accidents:the press recently reported the catastrophic collapse of an E-3120 turbine near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 19 January, 2012.
'Coldingham wind gusts see houses evacuated', BBC News, 8 December, 2011.
'More trouble with wind turbines', Shropshire Star, 20 January, 2012.
'Institution of Mechanical Engineers joins Citigroup in criticising aim to provide all electricity from renewables within nine years'
The Guardian, 3 November 2011.
'Alex Salmond's goal of meeting all Scotland's electricity needs with green sources by 2020 has been attacked for the second time in a week for lacking credibility.
'In a highly critical report, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Imeche) said the first minister's target was poorly worked out, uncosted and unrealistic.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (Imeche), 'Scottish Energy 2020? A target too far?', November 2011. (Report download page).
Herald Scotland, 3 November 2011.
'David Cameron and Alex Salmond have clashed over a warning to energy giants about investing in Scotland as it was claimed Scots could face a hike in their electricity bills of almost £900 a year to pay for the SNP Government's ambitious renewables policy.
'A report by leading financial services firm Citigroup urged power companies to rethink investing in Scotland because of the uncertainty surrounding an independence referendum.
'It said that if Scots bore the full burden of meeting the SNP Government's commitment to provide all of Scotland's electricity from renewables by 2020, the cost would be at least £4 billion a year, noting that "bills for residential consumers could rise by £875 per annum".
'The costs of Alex Salmond's green energy revolution are "going through the roof" and threaten to bankrupt companies by doubling energy bills, business leaders have warned the First Minister.'
Telegraph, 29 September, 2011
'The Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) said electricity is currently about nine times more expensive to generate from wind farms than gas-powered plants.
'Mike Salter, the SCC chairman, told the organisation's annual dinner that Government energy experts predict greater reliance on "very expensive" renewables will lead to consumers' electricity bills doubling.
'He warned this would hold back the Scottish economy and lead to businesses going under. If this is the consequence, he questioned whether Mr Salmond's "total commitment" to green energy is "misguided".
It is reported that Fred Olsen Renewables,the Norwegian-owned company who own the Crystal Rig turbine array in the Lammermuirs, will receive a £1.2 million payment for turning off their turbines for just 12 hours during the recent high winds.1
They agreed to cease production for eight hours on Saturday 10 September, 30 minutes on Sunday 11 and four hours on Monday 12.
Turbines are anyway forced to shut down when wind speeds exceed around 60 mph in order to prevent damage.
It has been revealed that not one turbine in Scotland produced any electricity on two separate days – August 30 and September 15 – within the past month.2
National Grid is to pay £2.9m in compensation to the 13 windfarms that were out of operation, costs that will be paid by electricity consumers in their bills. The most recent curtailment incident, between Saturday and Tuesday, accounts for more than half the £4.3m paid out during the 12 months up to June.3
The Crystal Rig operators demanded some of the highest curtailment prices yet seen in the industry.
National Grid operates a balancing mechanism to balance the network. "Constraint payments" are made to those who agree to stop feeding energy into the grid. Operators are asked to submit bids for how much power they can pull out of the system and at what price. Often, conventional power stations agree to curtail output for little or no cost.4
Fred Olsen offered £999 per MWh for shutting down Crystal Rig II. By contrast, Scottish Power has a standard bid price of £180 per MWh, with Scottish and Southern Electric's standard bid price thought to be £150 per MWh. Generators would normally receive a wholesale price of £40-50 per MWh plus Renewables Obligation subsidy certificates that were worth £45.37 per MWh at the last auction on 31 August.5
1 'Turbines owner to get £1m windfall', The Herald, 16 September, 2011.
2 Renewable Energy Foundation research - REF website.
3 Ibid.
4 Balancing Mechanism website.
5 e-ROC Online Auction Services.
See also:
'Cashback as storms knock wind out of turbine sails', Evening Times, 14 September, 2011.
'High winds lead UK to halt turbines for 3rd night', Reuters, 13 September, 2011
Windbyte article below for previous examples of costly wind curtailment this year.
Last year a petition calling for better protection for the best wild land in Scotland attracted nearly 4,000 signatures, it was lodged with the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee in January.
A recent report by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) showed that the proportion of Scotland "without visual influence of built development" fell from 41% in 2002 to 28% in 2009, it fell from 31% to 28% in 2009 alone.
A spokesman for SNH quoted in the Scotsman stated: "The decrease in area unaffected by the visual influence of built development is, in the main, caused by wind turbines. Wind farms are being built rapidly in relation to other forms of development and they are highly visible due to their locations." *
Now, with the Scottish Parliament back in session the John Muir Trust is asking their supporters to write to MSPs to remind them how how important it is that Scotland's wild land gets better protection.
There is more on this on the JMT website.
* 'Paradise lost - Scotland's vanishing views', The Scotsman, 22 February 2011.
A 19 turbine iteration rubber-stamped by Scottish Government reporter. Now under construction (August 2016).
hardly was the ink dry on the approval of Aikengall II, when 'Community Windpower' announced a further major Section 36 extension, 'Aikengall IIa', current iteration eighteen 145m turbines and one 125m turbine.
The use of the '2a' label seeks to imply that this is a minor extension to Aikegall II, of course it is bigger than Aikengall I and the same size as Aikengall II.
Part of the site was included in the previous Aikengall II application until the 8 turbines on Scottish Borders side were withdrawn after an objection from SBC.
Though Scottish Borders Council are being consulted, a 'Section 36' application will be made directly to the Scottish Govenment's Electricity Consents Unit (the hint is in the name!), because the proposal has a nominal capacity of over 50MW. The Scottish Government rubber-stamped the 19 turbines at Aikengall II recently, brushing aside local objections and the cumulation issues that have been raised by Scottish Natural Heritage regarding the numbers of turbines in the area.
This scheme will be even more obtrusive in its siting on the Monynut Edge and will be very visible, from the East Lothian coast to North Northumberland.
SBC Planning Ref. 13/00633/SCO.
The application by German developers Volkswind for six 126.5m turbines at Blackburn Farm, near Grantshouse, was unanimously refused by SBC on 6 August, 2012, following the Officer's recommendation to refuse.
An appeal was dismissed (06/08/2012).
Application documents.
Volkswind website.
RES are looking to develop an array of fourteen 132m turbines at Langton Lees, between the Longformacus road and the B6456, to the west of Duns. RES operate the Black Hill array of twenty-two 78m turbines, to the north of the proposed site.
They submitted a scoping application to Scottish Borders Council on 3 December, 2013.
Scoping application: 13/01366/SCO.
Mast application: 13/00700/FUL.
German-owned, speculative development company Enertrag have been proposing to build three 126.5m turbines on a site bordering the A1 and close to Reston, Ayton and other settlements.
The company recently reduced the number of turbines due to overwhelming local opposition to their proposal.
They have refused to provide a written undertaking, as has been done at other controversial schemes locally, that they would not seek to expand turbine numbers in the event that they gained consent for the 3-turbine scheme.
Oppose Blackmains website
The 2007 scoping opinion is available on the SBC website.
'Developers scale down plans for Blackmains windfarm', Berwickshire News, 26 May 2012.
'More turbines on horizon?', Berwickshire News, 14 July 2011.
Enertrag website.
The application by German-owned developer PNE Wind for eight 100m turbines at Brunta Hill, on the southern flank of the Lammermuirs was unanimously refused on 5 August, 2013. The Officer's Report strongly recommended refusal.
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2049.
SBC planning ref. 11/01444/FUL .
Natural Power are scoping yet another Section 36 application, 'Crystal Rig Phase IV'. The proposal is for 26 more turbines up to 135m in height, on areas surrounding their complex of turbine sites.
The site area falls within both Scottish Borders and East Lothian.
SBC Ref. 14/00915/SCO.
ECU documents not yet online.
Application submitted for 11 x 125m turbine extension to the existing Crystal Rig complex of 86 turbines. Reduced to 7 turbines, then 6.
With Aikengall I (16 x 125m turbines, operational), Aikengall II (19 x 125m turbines, consented) and Aikengall III (30 x 145m turbines being scoped), this proposal could result in a continuous wind farm landscape of 162 turbines.
This is before we even begin to examine the numerous other turbine arrays, built, consented and in planning, in the Lammermuirs and immediate surrounds which will have a cumulative visual impact with the Crystal Rig/Aikengall 'wind farm landscape'.
Scottish Government, Electricity Consents Unit.
Documents on ELC planning page: N/A.
Documents on SBC planning page: Planning Ref. 13/00722/S36.
Fred Olsen Renewables website.
Response group: Save The Lammermuirs (STL).
EDF are proposing a scheme for twelve 126m turbines, extending the operating 48-turbine mega-scheme in the Lammermuirs, near Longformacus. They have submitted a Scoping request to the Scottish Government's Energy Consents and Deployment Unit (ECDU). [1]
The application will be made to the Scottish Government under section 36 of the Electricity Act, 1989.
Public Exhibition:
- Tuesday, 8 September, Lauder Public Hall, 2.30pm - 7.30pm
- Wednesday, 9 September, Westruther Village Hall, 2.30pm - 7.30pm
SBC Ref. 15/00059/SCO
developer website.
The application by Berwickshire Housing Association for three 115m turbines close to the conservation village of Oldhamstocks was approved, against the Officer's recommendation on 6 August, 2012. Now under construction (08/2016).
BHA have announced that they will be seeking to develop a second turbine scheme in the Lammermuirs fringe area.
Scottish Borders Council planning page.
Energiekontor's appeal for non-determination of their scheme for ten 115m turbines near Ayton has backfired, being refused by the DPEA on 28 August, 2013.
The Reporter notes that, "From the evidence of my own site inspection and having also considered the range of submissions, I am satisfied that this is an inappropriate landscape in which to site a wind farm of the number and scale of wind turbines proposed here." (Appeal decision notice, 14.)
He also notes the visual impacts that the scheme would have had on the A1.
Refusal letter and notice: Decision Letter (PDF download).
DPEA Ref. PPA-140-2044.
SBC Ref. 12/01348/FUL.
Artist's impression - Horn Burn turbines.
Energiekontor website.
Livos Energy have now (24/08/2016) submitted an application to Scottish Borders Council for for eight 100m turbines at Howpark Farm, contiguous with the twenty-two 76m operating turbines at Drone Hill, near Grantshouse. A previous scoping application was submitted for two 80m turbines on the site in 2013.
Another fourteen 100m turbines at Penmanshiel, immediately to the north and contiguous with the Howpark scheme were consented at appeal in October 2013 and have just been constructed. Two 99.5m turbines are being scoped at Old Townhead, just to the north of the Penmanshiel scheme.
SBC Application Ref. 16/00980/FUL.
'Wind farm site creates concern', Berwickshire News, 3 December, 2015.
Ecotricity announced in November 2016 that, after consulting with statutory bodies, they had withdrawn a Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for sixteen 126.5m turbines on their Inch Moor site, just to the west of Duns.
SBC Ref. 15/00961/S36.
ECU page.
Ecotricity website.
RDS Element Power withdrew their application for six 119m turbines at Monashee, close to Abbey St Bathans, the Whiteadder Valley and Edin's Hall Broch.1
A re-submission is expected, for 5 turbines (see planning correspondence), after objections from SBC and SNH to the previous scheme.
A previous application on this site, by West Coast Windfarms, was dropped in 2003. 2
1 SBC Ref. 12/00431/FUL.
2 SBC Ref. 02/01319/FUL.
Response group: Save the Lammermuirs (STL).
The proposal by RES for fourteen 100m turbines at Penmanshiel was rubber-stamped by the Scottish Goverment, requiring only the removal of 1 turbine.
The scheme had been precipitously appealed for non-determination on 28/09/2012, the application lodged with SBC on 27/10/2011.
The Reporter discounted SNH concerns about cumulative visual impacts with the operating Drone Hill and other schemes in the Eastern Lammermuirs and A1 corridor. Drone Hill was also consented at appeal, overturning a unanimous local refusal which followed officer and consultee recommendations. He also rejected objections to differing turbine heights in the adjacent proposals, going against the design principles set out by SNH.
The cumulative impacts are now very evident with the 19 turbines of Aikengall II/Wester Dod spilling south and east over the Monynut Ridge.
A 19 turbine
Decision letter (PDF download).
DPEA Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2035.
SBC Planning Ref. 11/01464/FUL.
Banks Renewables, part of the private coal mining, property and waste group, had their application for thirteen 100m/115m turbines consented on 1 April, on the Chairman's vote.
This will add to the rash of turbine developments along the A1 corridor and threatens further cumulative degradation of tourist landscapes in the eastern Lammermuirs and of the Southern Uplands Way, which will soon have to be renamed the 'Southern Uplands Turbine Track'.
SBC Appl. Ref. 11/01662/FUL.
West Coast Energy applied for an 80m anemometer mast on a site that is contiguous with Ecotricity's site for nineteen 130m turbines at Inch Moor, itself immediately to the west of the Black Rig proposal for fourteen 132m turbines.
The company have, as yet, supplied no further details on the numbers and sizes of the turbines they are considering on this site.
The company would appear not to be progressing this scheme at the moment.
Anemometer mast application ref. 14/00796/FUL.
Lauderdale residents, angered by the flood of proposals for large wind turbine arrays in their area, have formed the Lauderdale Preservation Group.
(See the LPG website).
The appeal against a refusal of the proposal by J G Shanks & Son for nine 100m turbines at Allanshaws (Shaw Park), near Stow, was refused by a Scottish Government Reporter on 16 June, 2014. Scottish Borders Council had refused the application on 7 October, 2013, on grounds of its adverse impacts on the Eskdalemuir Seismological Array and its individual and cumulative landscape impacts on Stow and Lauder Common. A previous application in the same site area was refused in 2005.
The Long Park/Halkburn array of fifteen 100m and four 110m turbines is located just the other side of a minor road from the Allanshaws site. A section 36 application for an extension of 10 more 110m turbines was made on 9 April, 2014.
There are still unresolved complaints about turbine noise from the Long Park site.
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2049.
SBC planning ref. 11/01175/FUL.
The application for a 67m turbine at Bassendean Hill Farm, on the other side of the A6089 from the Corsbie Moor proposal, was refused on 5 November, 2012.
The refusal was overturned at appeal on 24 April, 2013.
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2039 (DPEA website).
SBC Planning Ref. 11/01132/FUL.
The appeal against a refusal of the proposal by German wind developers PNE Wind for eight 100m turbines at Brunta Hill (Blythe Farm), near Lauder, was refused by a Scottish Government Reporter on 18 June, 2014. Scottish Borders Council had unanimously refused the application on 5 August, 2013, on grounds of its adverse visual impacts, especially in cumulation with existing turbine parks.
Developer website.
SBC Planning Ref.SBC Planning Ref. 11/01444/FUL .
Now amalgamated with Girthgate, see below.
A decision letter was issued on 28 August, 2013, rejecting E.On UK's appeal of the refusal of their Corsbie Moor scheme, near Lauder.
The application for nine 126.5m turbines by the German-owned company was unanimously refused in September, 2012, following the recommendation of Scottish Borders Council planners.
The Reporter recognised the cumulative damage that has already been done to Borders landscapes and his refusal decision centred on the cumulative damage that the proposal would have caused.
Appeal Ref.PPA-140-2037 (DPEA website).
SBC planning page: Planning Ref. 11/00888/FUL.
A proposal is again being screened on the 'Dere Street' site at Gilston. Green Cat Renewables, working for Clearwinds Ltd, have submitted a screening application to Scottish Borders Council for six 80-100m turbines on this controversial site. It is close to the recently refused Gilston proposal and the Dun Law/Toddleburn turbine complex.
Separate appeals on the refusal of Ridgewind's Gilston scheme for sixteen 115m turbines on Fala Moor/Gilston by Midlothian and Scottish Borders Councils were refused on 29 August, 2013.
The Reporter handling both appeals concluded that:
I conclude that the appeal proposal would give rise to an unacceptable number of significant adverse landscape and visual amenity impacts, including cumulative impacts. In my view these have tended to be understated by the appellant in the assessments made, when categorising them overall as being acceptable. Furthermore, the appellant, whilst seeking to demonstrate that the case in favour of the proposal was based on a balanced assessment, has unreasonably diminished the significance of even the adverse impacts that are acknowledged. In doing so the appellant has unfairly dismissed the issues of concern raised by the council, SNH and others. (Decision letter on Fala Moor appeal: PPA-290-2022)
The decision letters are available at: Fala Moor appeal - PPA-290-2022; Gilston appeal - PPA-140-2043.
'Community Windpower', have withdrawn their Section 36 application to the Scottish Government for twenty-four 132m and 125m turbines on a site at Girthgate, between Lauder and Stow.
A five-day hearing had been due to take place in September 2015 after Scottish Borders Council opposed the application and the application was referred to the Scottish Government's directorate of planning appeals.
SBC had objected to the proposal because of its visual and amenity impacts. Community councils in Stow, Fountainhall and Heriot had also objected to the scheme.
Scottish Govt. ECU.
'Plans for Girthgate wind farm are shelved by developer', BBC News, 22 July, 2015.
'Council object to wind farm', Southern Reporter, 1 April, 2014.
local response group: Lauderdale Preservation Group website.
'Save Bonnie Lauderdale' is on Facebook.
The nineteen 110m turbines at Long Park (Halkburn) started operation in October 2009. The application had been refused by Scottish Borders Council whose decision was, as usual, overturned at appeal by a Scottish Government Reporter.
The developer, Wind Prospect, is now back for more, with a proposal to build further 10 turbines north west and east of the present turbines.
Scottish Borders Council's Special Planning Guidance specifically identified this site as unsuitable for any further development, even before the huge cumulative pressure of other applications in the area. However, as the extension will bring the site capacity to over 50MW, this is a 'Section 36' application which will be decided directly by the Scottish Government.
See the Scoping Report: SBC Ref. 12/01274/SCO.
Scottish Government Electricity Consents Unit (not yet registered).
The appeal of the local refusal of six 110m turbines by Airvolution Energy for Lauder Common Good Fund at Muircleuch, near Lauder was refused on 8 December, 2015.
Two previous planning applications for 2 x 125m turbines had been withdrawn.
The huge cumulation of proposals in the area has caused very considerable concern to planners and local people. This concern had been expressed in SBC's scoping opinion on the last iteration of this project:
DPEA Ref. PPA-140-2054.
SBC Application Ref. 13/00044/FUL.
Response group: Lauderdale Preservation Group.
RWE Npower's scheme for twenty-three 125m turbines was eventually refused on 16 May, 2014, citing "unacceptable environmental impacts".
A majority objection to the scheme by Scottish Borders Council on grounds of visual impact, noise and cumulative impact, against officer recommendation, had triggered a public inquiry which was held in 2012.
A decision on the proposal had been repeatedly 'sisted' (adjourned), and there was a popular expectation that the Scottish Government was only waiting on an announcement of a deal on increased seismic headroom at the Eskdalemuir Seismic Array before rubber-stamping an approval.
The decision letter can be seen on the Scottish Government's website.
ABO Wind' s application for eight 125m turbines at Barrel Law, close to the consented Langhope Rig site, was thrown out by planners on 04/03/2013. An appeal has been dismissed (19/08/2014).
The proposal was rejected locally on grounds of its potential interference with radar at RAF Spadeadam and seismic monitoring at Eskdalemuir.
Councillors were also concerned at the cumulative visual impacts of the proposal.
Radar and landscape impacts were cited by the Reporter as grounds for dismissing the appeal
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2046.
SBC Planning Ref. 12/00191/FUL
The Broadmeadows scheme for eight 112m turbines just west of Selkirk and close to the Southern Upland Way was unanimously rejected by councillors, following the advice of a planning officer, on 13 June, 2011.
The decision was based on the major adverse visual impacts of the turbines and was hailed by local people as a turning point in the protection of Borders landscapes.
The committee agreed that the proposal breached longstanding council policies on landscape protection and also recently adopted special planning guidance on turbine arrays.
The decision followed the dismissal of an appeal by Vattenfall of the refusal of their Minch Moor scheme, two miles to the west of the Broadmeadows site.
At the time Clovenfords Community Council asked that the developer "Go away with good grace" and not appeal the decision.
Needless to say, Vattenfall, the Swedish developers, appealed, putting local communities and Borders Council to yet more trouble and expense.
The appeal was decisively on grounds of its landscape impacts.
'Joy as reporter blows away appeal over wind turbine plan for Broadmeadows ', Southern Reporter, 30 January, 2012.
'Yarrowford wind farm fight back on', Southern Reporter, 8 October, 2011.
'Anger at "unfair" rush in wind farm appeal', Southern Reporter, 3 October, 2011.
'Wind changes direction to halt "march of the giants"', Southern Reporter, 18 June, 2011.
'Broadmeadows seven-year wind farm saga extended', BBC News, 14 September, 2011.
An S36 application for eighteen 115m turbines by Partnership for Renewables' and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) was approved by the Scottish Government on 8 July, 2016.
Scottish Borders Council had strongly objected to the application on 2 June, 2014, on grounds that it did not accord with SBC planning policy as set out in their landscape and capacity studies.
ECU Ref.EC00003108.
SBC Ref. 12/01283/S36.
Community response group: Protect Eddleston's Landscape & Environment (PELE) - PELE website.
On 28 September, 2015, Infinis withdrew their planning application for seven 126.5m turbines at Cummings Hill, 960m from the village of Chesters and 5.5 km south of Jedburgh on 30 January, 2014.
The application site is within the Teviot Valleys Special Landscape Area (SLA) and the application acknowledged that the scheme would have had significant visual impacts on views from the Carter Bar tourist viewpoint on the A68, only 7.9km from the site, and on the Borders Abbeys Way as it crosses Dunion Hill and Black Law, as well as other local viewpoints.
SBC Application Ref. 14/00083/FUL.
This Section 36 proposal has been reduced in size again, to twenty-two 125m and 100m turbines.
The site is close to the Devils Beeftub, in an Area of Great Landscape Value (AGVL).
Scottish Borders Council first objected to the application in 2008, shortly after it was lodged with the Scottish Government.
A public inquiry into the scheme is expected in due course.
Scottish Executive website.
Local response group: (SOS) Save Our Scenery
Two 47m (155 ft) turbines were consented on 28 February, 2011 at Easter Howlaws, in the Scottish Borders, despite their proximity to Hume Castle, an ancient monument and Borders landmark.
They are now operational and dominate the skyline in much of the surrounding area.
Shockingly, this was a delegated decision: made by a planning officer not by Councillors.
The decision contravened guidance in SBC's own Special Planning Guidance. Section 5.23 of the council's Draft Wind Energy SPG (now adopted) explicitly identifies Hume Castle as an ancient monument that should be identified as a stage 1 constraint (in accordance with the guidance of PAN 45), that should be protected by a 2km buffer zone. The Planning Officer saw fit to override this in his decision while acknowledging that the turbines, " would be relatively prominent within views from Hume Castle", and that, "The proposed turbines would be clearly visible within views over a distance of 2.5km towards the Castle from the north, east and south (including from a section of the B6364). They would also be relatively prominent within views from Hume Castle looking east." (Officer's Report)
Local people and their representatives are also surprised that this decision should have been delegated in view of its importance and when objections had been received from a number of members of the public and from consultees such as Greenlaw and Hume Community Council and the Berwickshire Civic Society.
SBC Planning Ref. 10/01536/FUL.
The refusal of the application for a six-turbine extension to the 11-turbine Glenkerie scheme near Broughton has been overturned at appeal (06/08/2015).
Councillors had gone against the officer recommendation , persuaded by the argument of Lady Pamela Strachan, wife of Lord Lieutenant Sir Hew Strachan, and others the turbines would be 110 metres further up the hill line and would be a great intrusion on the valley.
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2052.
SBC Appl. Ref.13/00552/FUL.
'Wind farm extension given the go ahead', Peebleshire News, 5 August, 2015.
Members of the Scottish Borders Council Planning Committee unanimously refused West Coast Energy's scheme for eight 100m turbines at Hag Law (Stevenson Hill), near Romanno Bridge in February, 2015. The application had been strongly recommended for refusal by planning and heritage officers on the grounds of its adverse visual impacts on the landscape and nearby heritage sites. The decision was appealed (30/04/2015) and Scottish Ministers recovered decision to be made in conjunction with the Cloich Hill S36 application. It was refused on 8 July, 2016
DPEA Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2053.
SBC Planning Ref. 14/00738/FUL.
'Scottish Borders Council rejects Hag Law wind farm bid', BBC News, 2 February, 2015.
Previously scoped by RES as a Section 36 proposal (over 50MW) under the 'Dykeraw' name, an application has now been made to SBC (4 July, 2016) for eleven 176m and two 150m turbines.
SBC Application Ref. 16/00810/FUL.
Kilrubie Windfarm Ltd submitted an application on 4 August, 2015 for seven 115m turbines on a site between Kilrubie Hill and Cloich Hill, close to Eddleston. The site is contiguous with the approved Cloich Forest application.
The scheme was appealed for non-determination in January 2016.
As with adjoining proposals, SBC has found against its acceptibility. Their Landscape Architect writes: "In my view, the Cloich Hills do not have the capacity for large scale (100m+) turbines and are an unsuitable area. This is supported by the Landscape Capacity and Cumulative Impact Study by Ironside Farrar (July 2013)."
SBC Ref. 15/00818/FUL.
The appeal by Vattenfall against the refusal of their scheme for twelve 100m turbines on Minch Moor, Scottish Borders, has been rejected.
The scheme, originated by AMEC and subsequently sold to Swedish company Vattenfall, was close to the Southern Upland Way and was widely perceived an especially unsuitable in its insult to the Three Brethren viewpoint and the tourist landscape of the Tweed and Yarrow valleys.
There had been considerable concern in the Borders that the reporter appointed by the Scottish government to consider the appeal had refused to hold a public hearing to examine evidence from the various parties to this appeal.
The decision letter is available on the Scottish Government's DPEA website.
Partnership for Renewables, working with Forestry Commission Scotland, are scoping a 90-turbine Section 36 scheme in the Wauchope and Newcastleton Forests, south of Hawick.
They are proposing 70 turbines in the Wauchope Forest and 20 on the Newcastleton site.
The Newcastleton site falls within RAF Spadeadam's Electronic Warfare Training range and low-flying area 13.
SBC Ref. 16/00037/SCO.
No entry on ECU website yet.
Developer website.
German-owned speculative wind developers Energiekontor submitted an application on 5 January, 2017, for 12 turbines, 7 up to 158.5m, and 5 up to 130m. The site is on the Harwood Estate, approximately 7.5km south east of Hawick, and 5km south west of Bonchester Bridge.
The Birneyknowe Wind Farm application is approximately 4km north of the site. Planning permission has been granted for three masts to the south in Wauchope Forest, the closest of which would be approximately 3km from the proposed development.
SBC Ref. 17/00010/FUL.
A controversial scheme for six 125m turbines near Leadburn was decisively rejected by Scottish Borders Council on 30 November.
The scheme was found to be contrary to local and regional planning guidance. It was found to have, "a significant adverse impact on the landscape character of the area, including the hills and summits of the Pentland and Moorfoot Hills ranges, the landscape designations and the surrounding countryside."
The decision letter and other documents are available on the Scottish Borders Website, linked below.
SBC planning ref. 10/01669/FUL.
Partnership for Renewables, working with Forestry Commission Scotland, are scoping a 90-turbine Section 36 scheme in the Wauchope and Newcastleton Forests, south of Hawick.
They are proposing 70 turbines in the Wauchope Forest and 20 on the Newcastleton site.
The Newcastleton site falls within RAF Spadeadam's Electronic Warfare Training range and low-flying area 13.
SBC Ref. 16/00037/SCO.
No entry on ECU website yet.
Developer website.
A section 36 application for fourteen 133.5m turbines at Whitelaw Brae, just west of the Fruid Reservoir, near Tweedsmuir, has been submitted to the Scottish Government by 2020 Renewables for Velocita Energy Developments.
The Scheme falls just over the 50MW margin for decision by government rather than the local planning authority.
SBC's planning committee have unanimously agreed to object to the application. Senior Planning Officer Ian Aikman told councillors that the unspoiled character of the site area, between Fruid Reservoir and the main A701 Dumfries to Edinburgh road, would "change dramatically" if the development was permitted.
He said the wind farm would have a "significant impact" on these areas.
SBC's objection will at least ensure that there is a public hearing on the application.
SBC Planning Ref. 15/00020/S36.
Scottish Govt. Energy Consents Unit. - Whitelaw Brae.
'Council objection may scupper wind farm plan', Southern Reporter, 8 August, 2015.
The Infinis application for nine 125m turbines was refused by Scottish Borders Council 6:2, following officer recommendation, on 29 June, 2015. The refusal has now been overturned (09/06/2016) by a Scottish Government Reporter.
The proposal threatens the setting of Hermitage Castle and had attracted over 300 objections. Despite the removal of some turbines and the lowering of others, the proposal was seen as continuing to threaten the setting of Hermitage, and to go against the Council's Special Planning Guidance on wind developments.
Appeal Ref. PPA-140-2055.
SBC Planning Ref. 13/00789/FUL.
Local Response Group: Hermitage Action Group(HAG).
Thousands of acres of what used to be public access land in upland areas are being fenced off behind welcoming signs such as this:
The area above Fast Castle and south to St Abbs and Coldingham is the scene for multiple consented farm-scale wind turbines and the huge Penmanshiel proposal for nineteen 100m turbines which itself adjoins the Drone Hill scheme for twenty-two 76m turbines which currently being constructed.
The beautiful views from Telegraph Hill to the East Lothian coast and the Lammermuirs, and from the Lammermuirs to Fast Castle Head are now lost for generations.
The Lammermuir Hills is being described by developers as, "a well established wind farm landscape".
The area is officially classified as a Special Landscape Area (SLA), formerly an area of 'Great Landscape Value' (AGLV), but it is still under threat despite having had hundreds 100 to 125 metre high turbines built or consented in the ecologically sensitive peatland of this upland landscape.
When developers first applied for 'only' 25 turbines at Crystal Rig, many of us naively accepted a proposal that was not close to homes and which was described in 2004 as: "... within a large landscape hidden from the surrounding countryside."
We were misled.
Applications for another 52 (CR2), then a further 9 turbines (CR2a) soon followed, extending the Crystal Rig complex way beyond the confines of the original site. Not satisfied with that, it was soon revealed (August 2010) that the developers were seeking to shoe-horn in another eleven 125m turbines,'Crystal Rig 3', now reduced to 6. While this extension is still being considered, the comnpany have started consulting on 'Crystal Rig 4' another S36 application for up to twenty six turbines, up to 135m in height..
After CR2 was approved, a privately-owned speculative development company operating under the name of 'Community Windpower' applied for 16 more 125m turbines at Aikengall immediately to the east of, and contiguous with, the Crystal Rig I site.
To the huge surprise of local people this scheme was approved, against planning advice and only on the casting vote of the Convenor of the East Lothian Planning Committee. Normally, the Convenor (Chairman) votes according to the the Planning Officer's advice. Only 5 of the 12 members of the Planning Committee had even bothered to visit the site. This scheme now dominates the coastal viewshed.1
The Aikengall site had hardly been commissioned, when 'Community Windpower' announced that they were applying to the Scottish Executive for a Section 36 extension immediately to the south of Aikengall ('Wester Dod'/Aikengall II). Nineteen 125m turbines were duly approved by the Scottish Government
There is growing disquiet at the way the planning system is being manipulated. The Lammermuirs are being cynically pillaged by speculative developers who think they have an open ticket on the wind power gravy train.
The Fallago Rig application for 48 turbines in the heart of the Lammermuirs was comprehensively rejected by local people and their representatives, then recommended for refusal by the Reporter (Planning Inspector) following a Public Inquiry and objections by the MOD due to its effects on defence radar.
There were then reports in the press of the Scottish Government's Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) being sidelined in secret negotiations between Scottish Ministers, the MOD and North British Windpower.2 Stories of Ministers staying at the Duke of Roxburghe's golfing hotel and being entertained at Floors Castle (the Fallago Rig landowner is the Duke of Roxburghe, who owns some 65,000 acres in the Borders) followed.3 A limited re-opening of the Public Inquiry was announced, to consider additional evidence on radar. This was rapidly followed by the discovery that the developers had started work on the site before permission had been granted. 4
Finally, with threats of legal action being made, the Public Inquiry was re-opened with a wider remit. The application was finally consented by the Scottish Government on 9 November, 2010 and is now operational.
At times, with feuding aristocratic landowners, carpet-bagging speculators and talk of 'pork barrel politics', it has felt like we are living in the southern states of America in the 1920's rather than the Scottish Borders in 2010.
Needless to say, an extension to Fallago Rig is being plqnned.
Nor has the southern fringe of the Lammermuirs escaped. Not satisfied with their twenty-two 78m turbines at Black Hill, near Duns, RES are proposing to build another array at Black Rig, on land at Langton Lees, to the south of the existing turbines.
1 'Eastern Lammermuirs now lost to windfarms', Berwickshire News, 22 March 2007.
2 'Growing consternation at Fallago Rig Wind Farm Public Inquiry fiasco', Berwickshire News, 6 May 2009.
3 'Wind farm discussions lead to investigations', Berwickshire News, 25 November 2009.
4 'Fallago under fire – again', Southern Reporter, 12 November 2009.
'Duke is told to halt work on wind farm - because he hasn't even got planning permission', The Scotsman, 2 December 2009.
"We have been proactive in supporting wind farms when appropriate but we are very concerned about the number of proposals we are getting." Charles Johnston, SBC principal planning officer.
Janice Gillie, Berwickshire News, 12 May 2010.
'The Scottish Borders approved more MW of wind energy power than any other Scottish authority per 1000 population and the region has Scotland's second highest amount of wind farm electricity generating capacity according to 2008 national figures.
'Across the region there are currently 163 operational wind turbines, 92 approved but not yet built, 103 pending, 30 refused, 48 (at Fallago Rig) pending appeal and scoping proposals for another 16 wind farms with a combined total of 220 turbines. [The figures have substantially increased since this was written. Ed.]
'Of the 12 approved wind farm in the Borders, planning officials believe six of them could be expanded, including Crystal Rig to the south.
'And while to some people it may seem like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, Scottish Borders Council has drawn up guidelines for wind farm development in the region, and the document is now in the public arena for a 12 week consultation period.
SBC have taken the very welcome step of making their Wind Farm Database and location maps accessible to the public.
Their map is especially useful in giving the site areas for most proposals.
The wind proposals planning list and location map are both downloadable as PDF files from the SBC website. If the downloaded map does not open properly, click on the size slider to increase or decrease its size, the map should then open properly.
The public are seldom aware of the scale of the wind rush because the construction of schemes lags several years behind consents and most government figures and maps only show operating arrays. Scottish Natural Heritage has updated their valuable wind turbine mapping which shows the footprint (land area) of turbine sites that are being scoped, in planning, consented and operational.
The South Ayrshire planning authority provides a very useful interactive mapping application for southern Scotland. This also shows site footpints and can be zoomed and scrolled to examine specific locations.
Both of these clearly demonstrate the huge spatial footprint of wind turbine arrays. Note: these are just the site areas not the 'visual footprint' of turbine schemes (i.e. the area upon which they have a visual impact), which is massively larger.
Whitelee I alone covers an area of 55 sq km, about the size of central Glasgow. It has a headline capacity of 322MW, though in reality it produced only 24% of that in 2009/10. Its output is less than a quarter of that of a single, compact CCGT gas plant (and we will still have to build the gas plant in order to backup the erratic and intermittent production from Whitelee and and all the other wind power stations).
As Sir Martin Holdgate, retired chairman of the Renewable Energy Advisory Group, put it: "The trouble with wind farms is that they have a huge spatial footprint for a piddling little bit of electricity."
The Scotsman, Letters, 27 April 2011
'NO developed economy can function without a reliable and economic supply of electricity but with present UK policies we have been warned that within a few years there will be a risk of power failures while increases in prices to consumers will rise by more than 50 per cent by 2025.
'On a standalone basis the situation in Scotland would be even more disastrous. The huge investment required to remedy the neglect and wishful thinking of recent years will require two decades or more to take effect and in the run up to the May elections we urge all political parties in Scotland to put the future of our electricity supplies at the top of their agendas.
'The pretence that our electricity can in future be supplied from renewables, mainly wind and marine, has gone on too long. These matters are not a question of opinion; they are answerable to the laws of physics and are readily analysed using normal engineering methods. All of these energy sources are of very low concentrations and intermittent; they are and will remain inherently expensive and no amount of development will have more than a marginal effect on this conclusion.
'Nor can wind and marine energy sources be relied on to provide electricity when it is needed; a recent analysis has shown that for over 30 per cent of the time the output from wind farms has dropped to below 10 per cent of their nominal output and during extremely cold weather has fallen to virtually zero. Furthermore it is unfortunately not correct that marine energy constitutes a vast untapped energy resource on our doorstep; studies (now apparently accepted by government) have shown that at best it could provide only a few percent of our electricity supplies and at costs which, including the necessary back up generation, would be entirely unacceptable to consumers.
'Fossil fuelled generation (coal or gas) with carbon dioxide capture and underground storage may yet prove a useful technique but it is important to realise that it is an unproven technology on the scale required; that it may never be acceptable to dispose of such huge quantities of gas in underground storage and at present its costs are too uncertain to gamble on its playing a significant part in our forward energy policy.
'So by all means let us have some wind power, development programmes for other renewables, home insulation programmes, heat pumps etc but let us not pretend that all these taken together will substitute for proven generation sources such as coal, gas and nuclear.
'And if low carbon is to be the principal driver of energy policy, we can build on Scotland's half century of experience with nuclear, generating some 50 per cent of our electricity requirements, reliably and at low cost.
'Scotland needs a balanced electricity system which can deliver economic and reliable supplies; we are at the 11th hour and there is now no more time to lose in getting to grips with this task. There can be nothing more urgent on the political agenda.'
Colin Gibson C Eng FIEECCMI Network director National Grid 1993-97)
Prof Ken W D Ledingham FInstP
Prof Colin R McInnes FREng FRSE
Sir Donald Miller C EngFREng FRSE, Chairman ScottishPower 1982-92
Prof Anthony Trewavas FRS FRSE
Prof Jack Ponton FREng FIChemE
Scotsman, Leader, 28 April 2011.
"SCOTLAND bonnie no more: that is the growing concern over the spoilage of our hills and glens by the relentless increase in wind turbines.
"Today mountain walker and commentator Cameron McNeish joins a growing number of experts who fear that plans to create more green energy here is both unsustainable and deeply damaging to the natural beauty for which Scotland is known worldwide.
"Earlier this year, a report from Scottish Natural Heritage blamed a growing number of wind farms, as well as pylons, for a loss of wilderness. It found that in the past year the amount of land not visually blighted by man-made structures had shrunk by an area 14 times the size of Glasgow. Conservation body the John Muir Trust has also been vocal in its concerns, describing the report as "deeply worrying" and warning that the loss will continue if more large wind developments are approved. This is a concern that must now be addressed.'
BBC News, 28 February 2011
'Government support for the renewable sector in Scotland is costing more jobs than it creates, a report has claimed. *
'A study by consultants Verso Economics found there was a negative impact from the policy to promote the industry.
'It said 3.7 jobs were lost for every one created in the UK as a whole and that political leaders needed to engage in "honest debate" about the issue.
* Verso Economics, 'Worth The Candle? The Economic Impact of Renewable Energy Policy in Scotland and the UK', March 2011. Full report costs £36, the executive summary can be downloaded from the Verso Website.
'Scotland is in "serious danger" of suffering power shortages over the next decade thanks to Alex Salmond's "bonkers" green energy policies, the head of one of the country's largest generators has warned.
Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor, The Telegraph, 13 Nov 2010.
'Rupert Soames, chief executive of Aggreko, said Scotland's lights will be "perilously close" to going out because a huge proportion of existing coal, oil and nuclear power stations are due to shut down over the next eight years.
'He accused politicians of "holding hands and singing Kumbaya to the great green God" but warned the reality is it will be many decades before renewable energy can plug the gap left by traditional sources of power.
'Unless Mr Salmond ends his 'wishful thinking' and draws up alternative plans, Mr Soames warned Scotland will be in "deep trouble" by 2018.
"Given that government (and also government planning) policy is in favour of wind and other renewables, I wouldn't encourage you to query the carbon benefits of wind farms."
(David Liddell, a planning official at the Scottish Government, quoted below).
By Jenny Fyall, The Scotsman, 12 June 2010.
'Damaging wind farms that unleash carbon dioxide from the soil are being permitted in Scotland because no government body is equipped to advise on the impact of building on peatland, The Scotsman has learned. Peat bog has been described as "Scotland's rainforest" because it stores huge quantities of the greenhouse gas , which is released into the atmosphere if the peat is disturbed.
However, council planning teams in Scotland have been unable to get advice on the damage individual wind farms will do, because of a lack of anyone with the necessary expertise.
Documents seen by The Scotsman reveal that neither the Scottish Government, the country's environment watchdog the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, nor Scottish Natural Heritage, can provide informed advice on the issue.
Environmental groups have said they think it "extraordinary" that such an important issue has been neglected and there have been calls for a moratorium on wind farms on peatland until the issue is resolved.
Planning officials at Shetland Islands Council tried to get advice on the likely impact on peat of the 150-turbine Viking Wind Farm, which, if built, would be the largest onshore wind farm in Europe.
However, they came up against a brick wall.
A reply from David Liddell, a planning official at the Scottish Government, said: "Sorry, but not aware of a particular source of expertise on the carbon accounting query."
In what the Shetland Council staff member, Hannah Nelson, then described to colleagues in an e-mail as a "surprising response", Mr Liddell added: "Given that government (and also government planning) policy is in favour of wind and other renewables, I wouldn't encourage you to query the carbon benefits of wind farms."
Helen McDade, head of policy at the John Muir Trust, said: "I think it's extraordinary that there is nobody available with the necessary expertise. It seems to be a case of see no evil, hear no evil."
"How on earth are local councils supposed to know what to do? It's absolutely urgent that something is done about this."
She believes wind farms that damage peat bogs have already been granted permission in Scotland.
Wales Online, 6 April 2010. (Article on a Report prepared for the Welsh Assembly).
'Both Environment Agency Wales and the Countryside Council for Wales pointed out that turbines have been built without any thought to the effect on carbon storage – and are now allowing carbon that has long been locked away to be released from the land.
'Forestry Commission Wales confirmed that no assessment had been made of the impact of the Welsh Assembly Government's policy of using national forest estates for wind turbines on the carbon stored in the uplands.
'And no-one knew who was responsible. The Forestry Commission indicated that it was the planning authorities, but Environment Minister Jane Davidson suggested that it was the responsibility of the developer.
'The report expressed concern that no-one accepted overall responsibility and called on the WAG to carry out the assessment, and for soil carbon management to become a central consideration in the current review of TAN8 – the policy that defines areas suitable for wind turbines.
'It also called for a ban on forestry and wind turbines on deep peat "in order to ensure maximum environmental benefit in future".
'CPRW director Peter Ogden called for an immediate moratorium on any further wind schemes proposed in upland areas with deep peat.
Hundreds of people representing wind farm protest groups from all over Scotland gathered in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 16 March, to demonstrate the growing opposition to the speculative wind rush that is damaging their landscapes and communities.
Groups from the Borders to Caithness were represented in the sea of banners that were carried in the march from the Princes Street to Holyrood.
The protest ended outside the Scottish Parliament where hundreds of letters adressed to the First Minister were handed in and a rousing chorus of "Scotland is not for sale" was heard.
It is perhaps ironic that the march passed by the 'living wall' of the Scottish Parliament on Canongate which bears a plaque with the following inscription:
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
(Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889), 'Inversnaid').
The SNP government has encouraged the greatest loss of wild landscapes in the modern era.
A recent report by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) showed that the proportion of Scotland "without visual influence of built development" fell from 31% to 28% in 2009 alone.
This drop was far more rapid than in previous years.
A spokesman for SNH quoted in the Scotsman blamed the accelerating decline on wind turbines: "The decrease in area unaffected by the visual influence of built development is, in the main, caused by wind turbines," said a spokesman for SNH. "Wind farms are being built rapidly in relation to other forms of development and they are highly visible due to their locations." *
To quote some lines from the Bard that do not appear on the Parliament wall:
What force or guile could not subdue
Thro' many warlike ages
Is wrought now by a coward few
For hireling traitor's wages.
(Robert Burns, 'Sic a parcel of rogues').
* 'Paradise lost - Scotland's vanishing views', The Scotsman, 22 February 2011.
ELECTRICITY GENERATIONBalancing Mechanism Reporting System (BMRS).