Yesterday afternoon, I spoke at a packed meeting at Nantglyn village hall, organised by opponents of plans to site a second wind farm above the village, which is one of the prettiest in Clwyd West, tucked away in one of its greenest valleys. The meeting was very ably chaired by Nantglyn's county councillor, Paul Marfleet, and, such is the strength of feeling locally, was attended by at least 120 people.
I fully understand and sympathise with the frustration of people who see the turbines spreading like toadstools over the hillsides of North Wales and find themselves virtually powerless to do anything about them. Contrary to the taunts of people such as Peter Hain, they are not Luddite nimbies; it is they who experience the impact that the turbines have on the lives of those unfortunate enough to live close to them. They spoke of ceaseless, maddening, low-frequency noise that disturbs their waking hours and their sleep and of the stroboscopic effect of light flashing on the turbine blades. They are desperately concerned that even bigger, noisier turbines will soon become their close neighbours.
I am a supporter of renewable energy and have no argument whatever against small-scale community wind turbine developments; these are frequently beneficial and desirable. What I do object to is the industrial scale of the wind farms that are now being planned for a beautiful part of Wales and the effect that these have upon the people who live close by.
Wind power is the renewable generating source of choice for the energy producers who are doing so well out of the Government’s badly-devised Renewables Obligation (RO). Because wind is the most developed of all the renewable energy technologies and is therefore the cheapest, electricity generators are exploiting it almost to the exclusion of every other source. More reliable, predictable and potentially effective technologies, such as wave and tidal power, remain undeveloped because wind is so relatively cheap to exploit.
The Government, to give it some credit, has belatedly recognised that the RO is a blunt instrument which has led to the proliferation of wind farms and the neglect of other technologies. The Energy White Paper, expected next month, is likely to recommend the banding of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs), so as to encourage the development of other sources of generation. The problem is that this will require primary legislation and is unlikely to come into force until 2009 at the earliest.
The consequence of the threatened banding will be a dash to construct as many wind farms as possible, so as to benefit from the lucrative, unbanded ROCs. The people of Nantglyn were therefore right to show their concern at yesterday’s meeting. I very much hope that it will be heeded by the remote powers that be at the county council, the Welsh Assembly and the Department of Trade and Industry.
I fully understand and sympathise with the frustration of people who see the turbines spreading like toadstools over the hillsides of North Wales and find themselves virtually powerless to do anything about them. Contrary to the taunts of people such as Peter Hain, they are not Luddite nimbies; it is they who experience the impact that the turbines have on the lives of those unfortunate enough to live close to them. They spoke of ceaseless, maddening, low-frequency noise that disturbs their waking hours and their sleep and of the stroboscopic effect of light flashing on the turbine blades. They are desperately concerned that even bigger, noisier turbines will soon become their close neighbours.
I am a supporter of renewable energy and have no argument whatever against small-scale community wind turbine developments; these are frequently beneficial and desirable. What I do object to is the industrial scale of the wind farms that are now being planned for a beautiful part of Wales and the effect that these have upon the people who live close by.
Wind power is the renewable generating source of choice for the energy producers who are doing so well out of the Government’s badly-devised Renewables Obligation (RO). Because wind is the most developed of all the renewable energy technologies and is therefore the cheapest, electricity generators are exploiting it almost to the exclusion of every other source. More reliable, predictable and potentially effective technologies, such as wave and tidal power, remain undeveloped because wind is so relatively cheap to exploit.
The Government, to give it some credit, has belatedly recognised that the RO is a blunt instrument which has led to the proliferation of wind farms and the neglect of other technologies. The Energy White Paper, expected next month, is likely to recommend the banding of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs), so as to encourage the development of other sources of generation. The problem is that this will require primary legislation and is unlikely to come into force until 2009 at the earliest.
The consequence of the threatened banding will be a dash to construct as many wind farms as possible, so as to benefit from the lucrative, unbanded ROCs. The people of Nantglyn were therefore right to show their concern at yesterday’s meeting. I very much hope that it will be heeded by the remote powers that be at the county council, the Welsh Assembly and the Department of Trade and Industry.
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