AT last a discussion is opening up about the spinning of information by the Scottish Government in its fanatical support of the heavily subsidised renewables industry (Letters, December 16). This is economics of the worst kind, transferring money from the poor to the very rich promoting a low-carbon generation mirage. The phrase The Emperor’s New Clothes comes to mind.
In reality, without subsidies, wind farms are uneconomical; the phrase “free electricity” is anything but. The report by engineers from Edinburgh University concentrated on the carbon savings using figures from the National Grid, interesting and welcome, but as your correspondent Lyndsey Ward pointed out, the figures did not include the real issues, which are both economic and social. As a society we thrive based on our efficiency and competitiveness, but we are heavily subsidising an industry that does not provide the low-carbon electricity it is charged to do.
Not only are we subsidising the building of wind farms, we are paying wind farms to switch off when it’s very windy by way of constraint payments. Would it not be better to stop all subsidies completely for wind farms, accept the existing farms as part of the renewables mix towards a low carbon economy, and use their output without incurring additional subsidies? As an example, a successful two-year trial of the largest grid-scale battery has recently been completed in Leighton Buzzard. This “big battery”, up to 10MW storage, has proved its potential to transform the energy grid, storing energy when the demand is low and releasing it at peak times. By diverting constraint payments to the building of grid-sized battery support systems for existing large wind farms, would this not go some way to effectively utilise the energy they do produce, and make an attempt to stop this continual transfer of money to the rich.
Graham Brooks,
Ferry Row, Fairlie, North Ayrshire.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel