Energy compromise
Sir, In response to the opposition to the wind turbines on Holy Isle, the questions put to me by Lamlash residents and the serious breakdown in communication with our neighbours there over the past decades, I arranged a meeting last Sunday with the people responsible for the project.
They made a very good impression, answered my questions honestly and seem to genuinely care about the environment and the massive changes (global warming, loss of habitat and biodiversity etc) that are in progress worldwide. The following points came out of our discussion, which I’d like to share with others in order that they may come to an informed and balanced opinion.
1. Looking at the photomontages available on the NAC website (planning application 16/00648/PP), the turbines will have a much smaller visual impact than feared by many and when I mentioned the possibility of ‘camouflaging’ them, they agreed to look into getting green ones (instead of the usual white), in which case they would be hardly visible from our side.
2. The turbine design is such that the blades apparently won’t be visible while turning.
3. They claimed that the five turbines will just about cover their energy needs, rather than producing much more electricity to sell, as stated by many people.
4. Solar panels in the quantity they could reasonably install wouldn’t be able to generate enough energy for their electric central heating.
5. In terms of a danger to wildlife, yes, some birds may be killed but wind turbines are apparently responsible for considerably fewer deaths than the number killed by household cats every year. It is also important to remember the huge environmental impact on wildlife of our current non-renewable energy generation plants.
6. When asked if they had plans to add more wind turbines in future, as feared by many Arran residents, they said this would definitely not be the case. Whether such an expansion would be given planning permission by NAC anyway is another point.
7. They mentioned that a study has been done to see if tourist numbers have declined in areas with wind turbines and, from what they said, this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Personally, I am very much in two minds and would, of course, prefer not to have them there. I fully appreciate and enjoy the fact the Holy Isle is a largely unspoiled, peaceful island which should be kept that way if possible. Nevertheless, I ask myself why renewable energy solutions, which are clearly the way forward, should only be in other people’s areas? I also feel that it is everyone’s responsibility to react appropriately to the environmental impact human beings are having – and that sometimes means looking for compromises.
Yours, Stuart Turner, chairman, Lamlash Improvements.