Tide of stupidity
I note with interest that the Saltire Prize is being relaunched as the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund by Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse.
The blindingly obvious overdeployment of wind energy, clearly a dead-end technology, has been promoted by the Scottish Government at the expense of our landscapes, wildlife, tourism and local communities.
This has led to obscene constraint payments to wind farms, that is, payments to STOP generation, mostly in Scotland, reaching record levels in 2018, with the total reaching £124,649,106. Of this, £115,716,335 was paid to Scottish wind farms, and nearly all of that, £115,313,091, went to onshore farms. These extortionate costs are, of course, siphoned off our energy bills.
With such blatant profiteering by the wind industry I trust the £10 million prize will be paid for entirely by the bloated wind industry and NOT by the taxpayer. After all, it will be a mere drop in the ocean to them!
Yours, being squeezed dry like a sponge.
GEORGE HERRAGHTY
Lothlorien Lhanbryde, Moray
The big picture on Renewables needs to be appreciatedas many letters overlook it. Nuclear contribution to grids is set to fall by 2030. Big incentives to foreign companies have not sustained momentum. Coal is set to be phased out just as Renewables have grown to a 30 per cent share of generation.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is against the successful incentives policy for Renewables, although the cost of wind farms is set to fall sharply. A little help now will keep that momentum going. Unreliability issues regarding wind farms are also being addressed by new batteries and open cycle turbines.
If the government simply supported those wind farms which are coming to the end of their agreed lifespan, those wind farms would continue to flourish. That alone would be an inexpensive way forward
The big picture is that energy use is set to increase with electric car growth. UK Energy Secretary Greg Clark has recognised that nuclear power is no longer as cost effective as Renewables. It is important, given the increasingly clear picture we are seeing on climate change, that the public recognise their potential.
ANDREW VASS Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh