Comment posted Campbeltown rumours about Wind Towers declared unfounded by Robert Wakeham.
Hughie: surely it’s only the tower components that are produced at Machrihanish and shipped out of Campbeltown harbour?
Robert Wakeham also commented
- All things are relative; are the 10 towers for Cour a ‘massive order’? – I wonder what volume of towers they need to produce to stay viable?
- I’m just saying it’s not the turbines – they seem to come from the other side of the world.
- One figure that I wonder about is the energy consumed in delivering the turbines being installed above Stronachullin, south of Ardrishaig. Although the towers are fabricated at Machrihanish, the turbines start their journey at Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. (I’m not making this up)
- Interesting – Scottish & Southern have said that they’re cancelling their planned hydro power projects because of the subsidy cut, so is Holyrood differentiating between wind and hydro power?
Recent comments by Robert Wakeham
- Transport Scotland publishes shortlist for one A82 contract and starts another
Good news for Crianlarich, and – at last – signs of movement on the long and disgraceful history of central government’s gross neglect of the A82 ‘trunk’ road along the northern shore of Loch Lomond. - One of world’s top minds on radar wins AF Harvey Prize
Reading this I couldn’t help thinking of the analogy with the development of a tracking system to keep tabs on the activities of Argyll & Bute councillors – but I fear that would be way beyond the ingenuity of even the most fertile scientific brains. - Peace Pilgrimage going through Crinan Canal now, en route for Faslane
Promoting Peace, Simon? – wouldn’t the automatic disqualification of councillors who put national party politics before their council responsibilities be more effective? - New SNP group leader unable to keep the sheep in the pen
‘…a Tory – with UKIP leanings..’ – would that have any swivel-eyed loons in the family tree? - New SNP group leader unable to keep the sheep in the pen
‘…clearly not in the loop.’ – are you sure there’s a ‘loop’ worth the name?
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Is ForArgyll reporting a rumour or spreading one?
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Good news if the rumours are not true. Mind you, as soon as the subsidies are cut they will be off.
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The subsidy for onshore wind has just been cut by 10%
Subsidies are designed to be temporary and to allow for the R&D costs of new technologies. Onshore wind should be subsidy free before the end of the decade.
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Subsidies for on and offshore wind are not, however, being cut in Scotland.
The First Minister issued a recent declaration that they would be retained here in full.
The announcement of a 10% reduction in onshore development subsidies(there was pressure for 25%)was a UK government announcement for England and Wales.
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Interesting – Scottish & Southern have said that they’re cancelling their planned hydro power projects because of the subsidy cut, so is Holyrood differentiating between wind and hydro power?
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Newsroom must know something the rest of us don’t. Mr Salmond announced he would only support a cut of 10% regardless of what the rest of the UK did.
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2193399/scotland-defies-osborne-to-confirm-support-for-onshore-wind-farms
I cannot find any news of a later statement reversing this decision.
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newsroom – the Scottish Government has not yet announced the results of its own review of the RO banding, but the First Minister has said that the new (10% reduced) rate of 0.9 for onshore wind will be guaranteed for four years in Scotland. The DECC meanwhile has said the 0.9 rate is only guaranteed until 2014 in England & Wales, and will then be reviewed again – doubtless this was the price for keeping the treasury happy – they had apparently wanted 25% from the start.
DECC announced a cut of 30% for large (>5MW) hydro, but the Scottish Government’s consultation document (Oct 11) proposes 50%.
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Subsidies for on and offshore wind are not, however, being cut in Scotland.
Newsroom, at the risk of sounding like Simon, you really must stop making stuff up and presenting it as fact.
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On the other hand, if the rumours ARE true, then it is also good news. No more convoys of enormous windmill components trundling up and down our inadequate roads, knocking the stuffing out of them, causing traffic congestion, and diverting our police from their proper duties. And all paid for by us taxpayers.
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S.White. How often do you actually witness this? Most turbines are transported to the harbour in Campbeltown and then transported by boat.
“If the rumours ARE true, then it is also good news” ??? What a ridiculous statement. What about people employed directly or indirectly at Machrihanish. I’m sure they will love to go home and tell their wife and weans that “sorry, I’ve not got a job but the good news is there will be no traffic congestion on the roads”!
Lets start a campaign to get the log lorries off the roads. The milk tankers, the co-op and tesco lorries and while we are at lets stop those mindless tourists trailing their caravans. In fact, lets cut off Kintyre all together and let it die! Doh!!
The truth of the rumour is Marsh have hit problems. The good news is SSH are about to take complete ownership of the factory over.
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The logistic of moving commodities is a a very important issue, the lack of investment for the maintenance of the roads is an issue along with the size of commercial vehicles using them. S.White was just highlighting this in his/her way. We all need an income to support our selves, Scotland has a vast potential, harness that and we could all have a good lifestyle.
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Hughie: surely it’s only the tower components that are produced at Machrihanish and shipped out of Campbeltown harbour?
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@Robert: Is that not the ones that cause the most congestion therefore travelling 3 miles by road to Campbeltown Harbour causes less problems elsewhere on the main roads?
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I’m just saying it’s not the turbines – they seem to come from the other side of the world.
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In my opinion no job is worth the destruction of our environment by an inefficient energy industry that adds significantly to fuel poverty.
I agree that employment is an extremely important issue, perhaps crucially so in Campbeltown, but let’s focus on worthwhile employment and not an industry that causes so much damage and distress to those who have to live with the consequences.
No doubt Scots Renewbles will think differently!
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I may not agree with your view on wind power, it does have a roll to play in power generation.
Totally agree with “let’s focus on worthwhile employment”, I am sure there will be a debate about what “worthwhile employment” is, but it would be a step forward for sustainable living, whats sustainable living.
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For Hughie -
I haven’t actually kept a log of the number of times I’ve had to pull over onto a rough and crumbling road verge, inches from a half hidden suspension busting ditch, to avoid a windmill. But it has happened far too often.
Comparing them to Tesco, Coop, milk lorries is silly. These vehicles transport cargo of intrinsic value which we all require, food. Neither do they require police escorts, so they don’t waste valuable police time.
As Lowry points out, employment is an important issue. But it makes no sense, economic or moral, to create jobs for a few windmill makers by adding to the fuel poverty of the entire country.
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@ S.White – Where do you live when “it has happened far too often”? I travel the road to Glasgow three or four times a day every week and can count on one hand the number of times it has caused me to slow down and pull over and that is over a few years. In fact in recent weeks I’ve had to slow down to allow static caravans to be transported. But hey ho lets moan about them too.
The pros and cons about wind turbines is another argument but you can rest assure the continued employment of hundreds of people in Kintyre is fundamental to our area. As Simon says “Have a nice day”
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For John Sinclair – if you agree that wind power has a role to play in power production, and most people do, then what could be more ‘worthwhile employment’ in an economically-distressed area like South Kintyre than to make the hardware locally rather than importing it from overseas manufacturers?
Perhaps those who would cheer at the thought of the (thankfully unlikely-sounding) loss of this factory could suggest what might be a ‘worthwhile’ way to replace the jobs lost in skilled manufacturing.
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I do agree with wind power has a place in our energy production, and manufacturing the plant in Scotland is worthwhile employment.
BUT just because I am pro wind power, I still listen to the other people views, and accept both sides are giving out misleading information to undermine the other side. Now what’s worthwhile employment, not everyone can be employed full time in the manufacturing of windmills, so what are other types of worthwhile employment. Is it better to have one big employer or many small employment opportunities. Should we optimise the resources or maximise the output. Too often an argument is over single issues, should we not be looking at the whole picture.
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A new video illustrating the folly of supporting wind farms:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyNDgoH5dBI
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watched the clip, still pro wind power, you are highlighting a very valid point about subsidies and I too get annoyed about those figures and alarmed that the pro wind power can not be more transparent about true costs. On a bigger scale, if we did not spend money on WMD and wage illegal wars, we could use all that resource and technology to give us all a better lifestyle, even sort out our roads and ferries in Argyll.
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Hello John – this is another one I made a wee while ago – it covers the subsidy nonsense as it applies to Scotland:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-bjoI9Mhko
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Malcolm Kirk – interesting figures indeed. It would also be interesting to know how much energy is CONSUMED in the manufacturing and installation of these machines, including all the incidentals, e.g. building access roads into the hillsides, the decommissioning costs, building the pylons and cabling required to connect them to the grid, etc etc.
Logically, these energy costs should be subtracted from the energy output of the turbines in order to arrive at a true picture of their efficiency, whether measured in £s or kilowatts. Until we know these figures, we really can’t tell whether wind turbines actually produce a net amount of energy at all!
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Until we know these figures
These calculations have all been done and the results can be discovered by anyone with a moderate aptitude for using Google.
Hard facts trump idle speculation every day.
Of course, if you are going to include EVERY factor then other fuel sources must bear the same burden – eg transport of gas and oil in tankers, millennium-long storage of nuclear waste, the energy cost to the NHS of sick miners – the list is endless.
Happy Googling
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One figure that I wonder about is the energy consumed in delivering the turbines being installed above Stronachullin, south of Ardrishaig. Although the towers are fabricated at Machrihanish, the turbines start their journey at Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. (I’m not making this up)
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Latest on Wind Towers Ltd. You were on the button!
http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/sse-gets-801-stake-in-turbine-maker.18336642
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Just seen that SSE simultaneously buys up Wind Towers and relaunches its application for a windfarm which would, if consented, put in a massive order to the company. Think of the pressure on politicians etc to consent this now that it looks as if so many jobs will depend on it. Shrewd move. http://www.4-traders.com/SSE-PLC-4000881/news/SSE-PLC-SSE-revises-Cour-wind-farm-proposal-following-community-consultations-14444071/
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We also note that The Herald article which followed ours says that the value of the transaction is not being made known.
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All things are relative; are the 10 towers for Cour a ‘massive order’? – I wonder what volume of towers they need to produce to stay viable?
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And how many jobs in other industries do wind farms destroy?
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With the possibility (as yet unfilled) of jobs in the fossil fuel industry, the answer is “none”,
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