We need to be thinking about where our energy is coming from – and whether it should it be wind on this windy peninsula:
Futures Forum: Wind power is the energy of the future
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There are several issues around wind power, however – as demonstrated in this piece from yesterday:
“Wind turbines create pollution and kill birds”
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And there is also the ‘blot-on-the-landscape’ issue:
Futures Forum: The aesthetics of development: power plants and windfarms
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In 2008 and again in 2014, there were proposals for a wind farm in Lyme Bay – which were rejected for mainly aesthetic reasons:
Futures Forum: A wind farm for the Jurassic Coast?
Futures Forum: A wind farm for the Jurassic Coast? latest news
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In 2011, on the other hand, there was a successful application for two small wind turbines in the AONB above Sidbury – supported at the time by the Vision Group and its energy group:
As Chairman of Sid Valley Energy Action Group, I wish to state that we support the proposal. This is a relatively small scale proposal that should greatly benefit the farmer by reducing his carbon footprint and making the farm more sustainable. The site lies in an area which probably has some of the greatest wind power potential within the local area. Whilst it lies within the AONB I believe that there will be minimal visual intrusion other than within its neighbourhood on the plateau.
Installation of small to medium scale renewables should be seen as adding to the longer term sustainability of the AONB, rather than to its detriment.
And it was passed by the Town Council, although not very enthusiastically:
“Whether we like them or not we are getting used to seeing these things. We co-exist with things in the countryside – pylons, TV aerials, mobile phone masts – we have to live with technology. They are not very elegant but we have to bite the bullet.”
Sidbury wind turbine scheme backed by town planners | Sidmouth Herald
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The turbines sit among Scotts Pine:
copyright: Google Maps
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This is small-scale technology – which since that application has been having a hard time:
Gaia-Wind calls in liquidators, as industry slams government feed-in tariff inaction | businessgreen
Dubai investor breathes life back into turbine maker Gaia-Wind | businessgreen
Meanwhile, we have to decide what sort of ‘development’ we want:
Futures Forum: Going BANANAs: planning and NIMBYism
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How about small-scale, community-owned?
Community energy projects bring power to the people | ft.com