It was announced today that approval has been given for a new 59 turbine windfarm in Moray and an extension to one in Lewis. Just over a month ago a 33 turbine windfarm in Sutherland was similarly given the go-ahead. Calton has always been rather doubtful of the wisdom of spoiling our beautiful countryside with large-scale windfarm developments and, after seeing the photos of the turbine which caught fire in the last big storm, has definitely, and unapologetically, become a windfarm NIMBY, because there's no way he wants burning debris landing on his eyrie!
Much is being made in today's announcements about the number of jobs which will be created, however most of these jobs will only be temporary construction jobs and it is unclear at present what the impact of the increasing number of windfarms will be on our tourist industry, which is one of the main employers in rural Scotland. The few permanent jobs provided by windfarms could easily be outnumbered by the jobs consequently lost in the tourist sector. Instead of building more and more windfarms to power homes, Calton thinks that investment should be directed towards making homes more energy-efficient and developing more reliable (and less incendiary) energy-generating methods.
