Metheringham Wind Debate

I took part in a community debate about wind farms last Tuesday.
I was invited by Metheringham Parish Council who were responding to residents concerns about an initial consultation for plans to build a large (+50MW) wind farm at Nocton Fen.
I was grateful for the opportunity to speak in support of wind and thought it would be useful to have a record of the event and so I made an audio recording.
I've added some slides to back up the points I was hoping to make, and the full presentation including a part of Councillor Colin Davie's speech plus the lively "Question time" can be viewed/listened to here:
Metheringham wind farm debate

Louth Canal Farm Wind Energy

Following a brief conversation with a local resident yesterday, there seems to be an element of confusion over the scope of the proposed community fund for the Louth Canal Wind Energy project.

Colm Ryan from the development company, Partnership for Renewables, has clarified the position.

" If we are successful in getting permission we will run further consultation events primarily for the community benefit fund.  
No decisions have been made as to where or indeed who will benefit from the fund. From the outset we encourage groups and individuals to come forward with potential idea or projects that the community benefit fund could go towards. 
For some of our other projects we have used an independent charity called Grantscape to come in and manage the fund which to date has been very successful."

The fund will total £37,500 p.a. for the life of the project, money that I'm sure could be well spent in improving and supporting local parish services.

Please write or email your support for this project to : 

Ms Leanne Palmer, c/o Ms. Zoe Hill, 

The Planning Inspectorate,

 3/02 Kite Wing, 

Temple Quay House, 

2 The Square, Bristol.

 BS1 6PN   

 email: leanne.palmer@pins.gsi.gov.uk  . 

If you would like to speak  in support at the planning appeal scheduled for the week commencing the 21st January 2014 then please phone James on 07939205346 or email jpocklington@fastmail.fm

So where are the silent majority?

When you've been supporting wind farms for a year or more, you begin to realise that few people locally, although sympathetic and open minded, are prepared to speak up in the defence of them. Let's face it it is
a lot easier to say no than yes, particularly when some of your neighbours are screaming NO! and I guess a good many people just don't want to get involved because the debate has become so acrimonious.
So I've often wondered what would happen if you commissioned a credible poll of Lincolnshire
residents and asked them "Would you be happy to live near a wind farm?"
Because of the recent irresponsibly negative publicity churned out by our local authorities I'd have guessed that probably less than 50% would answer yes, so I'm assuming that the Mail on Sunday had the same view when they put that very question to 1000 randomly selected GB citizens.
The unpalatable result (it must have been unpalatable because they don't appear to have published it!)
is that 70% of the 1000 people answered YES!

Mail on Sunday Energy Poll October 2013

So if you are one of the silent majority that supports wind farms, but have no wish to become embroiled in the debate, do the next best thing and write to your local authority with the simple message.

"I'd be happy to live near a wind farm"

Louth Canal Wind Energy update

Partnership for Renewables have submitted amended plans for the siting of the sub station for this
project.

This has been agreed by ELDC who acknowledge it  reduces any negative impact on the warehouse at Thoresby Bridge.

Louth Canal Wind Energy update

The Public Inquiry is scheduled for 21st January 2014.

Support for Temple Hill

The application for Temple Hill Wind Farm has  been submitted, validated and is on South Kesteven Council’s website.

Obviously any support is subject to the details of the application so please view those here SKDC planning   application number  S13/2699.

 There is a well organised and vociferous campaign against this project. As with most anti wind groups they complain bitterly about the wind industry "propaganda" but then continue to produce deliberately misleading and spurious "facts" to galvanise local support. 

        

        The Revolt group have this  to say about wind turbine efficiency. http://re-volt.co.uk/the-issues/wind-energy-viability/

"We won’t go into all the details (though if you’d like to know the maths please email us!) but the basic answer is NO. The huge development at Temple Hill would only power around 800 kettles."

I would suggest that most people would consider this an insignificant amount, I mean a kettle is only on for a couple of minutes isn't it?

Well no..is this case they mean 800 kettles on 24 hrs every day 365 days a year, not very helpful comparison really is it? I mean who is going to keep topping up the water and changing the elements when they burn out?:)

 Furthermore their 800 kettles should actually be  nearer 1600 permanently boiling kettles  as they have managed to get even this simple calculation wrong ( no wonder they don't want to go into details).

Here is a guide to calculating possible power output from a wind farm.

Maximum power rating of a turbine = (e.g.) 2.5MW

Anticipated total power produced over a year = 25% of rated capacity (load factor)

Therefore over a year with the turbine sometimes running flat out and sometimes not running at all you can expect to average out 625Kw of electricity produced for every hour of the year. So that's 625 Kw/h multiplied by 8760 hrs in a year = 5,475,000 Kw/h p.a.

If you have 5 of these turbines you could realistically produce 27,375,000 Kw/h p.a.

The average kettle requires 2kw of power so if one was on permanently for a year it would use up 2 x 8760 or 17520 Kw/h of electricity ( incidentally the average UK household uses 4700 Kw/h p.a.)

So if you were daft enough to use up all of the output from the turbines to boil kettles you would power  1562.5 kettles (27,375,000 total Kw/h divided by 17520 Kw/h per kettle) almost double the number Revolt are offering as a "fact".

Please register your support for this scheme. Don't let the scare tactics of a misguided few be the only words the planning department have to consider.

Louth Canal Wind Energy Project

Partnership for Renewables have lodged an appeal against ELDC's decision to deny planning permission for the Louth Canal Wind Energy Project Partnership for Renewables

The Public Inquiry is scheduled for the 21st January 2014 and will take 6 days to complete.
The planning application can be viewed here: East Lindsey District Council
and details of the appeal here: Planning inspectorate

The project involves three wind turbines up to a maximum of 2.5MW capacity for each turbine.

Partnership for Renewables have followed recent government recommendations and increased the package of community benefits to £5000 per MW per annum. This means the local community could receive up to £37,500 every year for the anticipated 25 year life of the project,  £937,500 in total.

It is extremely important for supportive local voices to be heard by the Planning Inspector if this appeal is to be upheld so please do what you can to ensure the "silent majority" is encouraged to register their support.

Accept the change

This is a two page A4 flyer designed to be distributed to all households within sight of a current wind farm planning application. The government's recent guidelines emphasise the need for local community support toward wind farms and have recommended higher financial payments for the communities affected.

If you'd like a pdf file of the flyer please email jpocklington@fastmail.fm