In My View
Posted by Robert Walter, MP for North Dorset, at 11:05, Thu 7 February 2008:
IN MY VIEW
Some months ago we thought that the threat of wind turbines scarring the Dorset countryside had disappeared. The campaign organisation which I chaired, Dorset Against Rural Turbines (DART) was disbanded and Save the Vale was seeking a wider environmental role.
Well we were wrong because the promoters of ugly turbines are back, and we have to start all over again to protect our beautiful Blackmore Vale. The plans at West Bourton raise all the same issues. I am the number one supporter of renewable energy, but not at any cost. Unsightly, inefficient, heavily subsidised inland turbines are not the answer.
But help for the fight may be at hand. Disclosures this week from the regulator OFGEM suggest that the subsidised price paid to wind generators was now as much as £100 per mega watt really does blow a hole in the arguments for wind energy. The so called renewables obligation, paid by you and me through our electricity bills, will this year give some £600 million in subsidies to the promoters. By 2020 that figure could rise to £3,000 million subsidy each year from our electricity bills.
Added to that are very real concerns from the Ministry of Defence that turbines up to 600 feet tall interfere with military radar. Apparently the vanes of the turbine cannot be distinguished from low flying aircraft. Given that our local naval air station at Yeovilton is often used for low flying exercises this must be a concern.
The battle will go on from here. But let us get the renewables argument into perspective. A series of heavily subsidised industrial turbines producing limited power for less than a quarter of the time do not provide the answer to global warming. They are ugly and do nothing for the Blackmore Vale or any other part of Dorset.
The search is on for the best south Asian restaurant in Britain, and I want a North Dorset nominee. The Tiffin Cup competition seeks to find the best South Asian restaurant in the country. Members of Parliament are able to nominate the best South Asian restaurant in their constituency.
The Nominations will be short listed to 10 entrants from 10 different Parliamentary constituencies and invited to a special cook-in at Bellamy’s Restaurant on the Parliamentary Estate. The winning restaurant will get a year’s supply of Cobra beer and the 2008 Tiffin Cup.
I have this week started the search for North Dorset ’s nomination and I am asking the customers, chefs or managers of South Asian restaurants to contact me by 14th February if they would like to be considered. I can be contacted by email at walterr@parliament.uk or by post at the House of Commons, London , SW1A 0AA .
I will announce which restaurant is North Dorset’s nominee on Friday 15 February.
Comments
Commenting on this message is now disabled.
Posted by Dave May, 11:40, Fri 8 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #
I don't see any alternatives suggested in your arguments against wind turbines. All you have done is point out the negative aspects. You haven't mentioned the negatives of any alternatives or how much these alternative sources of generation are subsidised. I wonder how much of the cost of gas powered generation is subsidised by "our electricity bills"?
I'm not sure who you think should pay for the generation of electricity but the user of the electricity, perhaps I should keep quiet and hope that you have a cheap source of power that I could use and so slash my bills.
I can't pick the source of my electricity generation, all the electricity produced goes into a big pot and then travels down the wires of the national grid until it comes out of my plug socket or light fitting. If I had the choice I certainly wouldn't want to support Nuclear generation or coal fired generation because of the hazards and pollution.
If wind, wave and solar power are more expensive to generate then so what? they represent a clean source of generation - only polluting our world during the manufacturing process, only costing maintenance to run, no fuel costs, no cleaning up waste costs. And I wonder how much of the cost of disposal of nuclear waste is accounted for in the electricity bill and how much is "subsidised" by other funding sources like our tax bill?
Before we all go off down the "not in my back yard" path let's have some reasoned discussion about the alternatives. I agree that the Blackmore Vale is a lovely area but what makes our back yard so much more special than anyone else's anyway?