The future?
According to HIE is clear - no windfarms, but lots of off-shore wind and wave.No-one can oppose this aspiration, and the sooner offshore technology is developed the better.
There are three areas competing to get the massive benefit. Orkney are the preferred location for the Scottish Executive - according to the SNP manifesto - Shetland is going flat out to get an interconnector (paid for by the Faeroes and Iceland!) and to develop huge windfarms on community land.
Apart from the Comhairle, our elected politicians are trying to stop developments which would guarantee an interconnector, hence taking us out of the game. The experimental wave farm at Shader is likely to be for nothing, hence affecting the viability of that community buyout.
17 comments:
"Apart from the Comhairle, our elected politicians are trying to stop developments..."
Do you think no-one at the Comhairle is trying to stop the wind factories? The LWP one at any rate is never going to happen, even Brian 'Bad Vibrations' Wilson seems to acknowledge that now. But I haven't heard of anyone, in or out of the Comhairle, trying to stop offshore and tidal wave systems though, have you? If so, do please let us in on it and show us the incontrovertible evidence.
Amec (and others) have been more than a little economical with the truth about how much 'development' with onshore wind turbines is necessary to justify an interconnector (or two?!), or indeed as to whether onshore wind is at all necessary or the only option. But it would sure suit them to have us all believe theirs is the only way.
This is the first I've heard about the Faroese and Icelanders paying for an interconnector between Shetland and mainland Scotland. Are you getting confused with the fibre cable being put in by a Faroese phone company this year which will make landfall in Shetland this summer.
There is a fair amount of debate going up here in Shetland about the windfarms and I would rather see tidal energy being pushed as it is not such a blot on the landscape.
jimmyc, the fibre-optic is the first stage. I've spoken to both Faeroese and Shetland politicians about this and I know what the Faeroese are planning to do. They are driving the whole process, and will benefit as the landfall point for the cable.
It has huge benefits for Shetland too, as it will provide the inter-connector despite Ofgem and Government intransigence.
So, this might be a bit wacky, but can the Western Isles not join in to the inter-connector from Iceland and The Faroes. A sub-sea cable over to that would also solve the problem of the Beauly to Denny blot on the landscape. Was SNP MEP Alyn Smith not trying to do something about that?
If only....
Having had substantive discussions with the Faeroese Ministers in 2005 and their MPs between 2003 and 2006, I know that we are out of the frame. If I thought we had any chance, I would have been after it like a ferret.
The ferry between Thorshaven and Lerwick is a joint Faeroes/Shetland venture and their historic ties are with Shetland. Atlantic Air flies from the Faeroes to Lerwick, Aberdeen and Copenhagen. We are only on their radar as "The southern isles".
If we had an MP and MSP who were pushing the interconnector as an opportunity (rather than an end in itself) we might have some leverage.
Did Angus MacNeil discuss the interconnector when he met the delegation from the Faeroes at Westminster recently?
"Did Angus MacNeil discuss the interconnector when he met the delegation from the Faeroes at Westminster recently?"
I don't know, Angus. Are you asking or, in a funny kind of way, telling?
I've got to hand it to you, Angus, you're canny. You know that any mention of ABM's or AA's name on this blog, especially inside a question, will get the NuLabour nutters going, using arguments as wise and logical as the war in Iraq to try to smear and denigrate the standing MSP and MP, members of a party which, until recently, you were a staunch supporter of.
Do you think this is ethical behaviour? (That's a question, by the way).
eyoop, are you suggesting that I don't mention our MP or MSP on a blog about politics?
I get as almost much flak (mainly from you) as they do. It comes with the territory, and if you can't take criticism, you shouldn't be in politics.
Eyoop,
Do you think it is ethical behaviour to
a) expel a "staunch supporter" from their party for thinking that they might do something?
b) ply two teenage (one under the legal drinking age) girls with alcohol and then take them up to your hotel room and have a steamy session with them?
c) promise the earth to your voters in order to get elected and then deliver nothing?
But of course you are wearing rose tinted glasses and we aren't allowed to mention anything negative about your SNP heroes but it's ok for you to slate everyone else on the planet that doesn't have the same view point as you.
This blog is controversial and topical and it highlights many shortfalls in our society, particularly those of our elected politicians.
Put up or shut up
"eyoop, are you suggesting that I don't mention our MP or MSP on a blog about politics?"
No, but there's quite a difference between merely 'mentioning' the MP/MSP and having a large axe to grind.
I would prefer to see a bit less political backbiting and a bit more optimism in a new administration in Scotland and the Isles, otherwise we may well end up back in the bad old days of having an MSP who supported war and windfactories in equal measure, but never seemed to actually say much about either.
You've said yourself that politics is 'a dirty business' - why not help clean it up a bit instead of encouraging fruitless rants from NuLabourites with too much time on their hands? I thought that was part of what you were doing in the SNP, until the dreaded 'W' word came along.
Until eyoop has the honesty to tell us just which SNP activist he is I think he should stop accusing Angus Nicolson of every sin under the sun. Remember it was the SNP who threw Angus out a year after he said he wasn't standing again.
It is a VERY good question as to whether or not Angus Macneil discussed the possibility of a major infrastrucutre project with the Faeroe islands, given that the Comhairle already laid the ground when the Faeroese Prime Minster visited the islands.
If he did not-and eyoop who has the inside line seems to admit this-then what does he do for his fat salary and expenses each year?
Or is economic development not one of his responsibilities, as it gets in the way of enjoying the hospitality?
Er, I was addressing Angus, and no-one else.
Eyoop
Rather than snipe from the background why don't you put your money where your mouth is and start your own blog.
Then you will be able to tell us all about how optimistic we should feel under the new administration.
It might also discourage you having your "fruitless rants" on this website. Something I'm sure we would all be grateful for.
ptti, I'm happy for anyone to 'rant' on this blog. I do prefer the comments to be constructive, rather than insulting, but you can't have everything.
Blind faith is great it worked for other nationalist movements in Germany and Russia, the SNP seems a bit simmilar in that everyone is expected to agree with everything and not criticise in case it jepordises the holy grail that is independance.
eyoop says give them a chance which is fair enough, but he shouldn't expect everyone to sit quietly as SNP election promises are dismissed without explanation and then blame other parties for not carrying them out. The SNP are finding out the Government is about making choices and they will be criticised on the majority of decisions that they take, it's called democracy.
Spot on Reiver, it is called democracy. And guess what? The SNP are the largest party in the democratically elected Scottish parliament.
That doesn't mean they are abusing their position - far from it. They bowed to the wishes of the majority vote on the Edinburgh trams, even though they could have vetoed it.
This is the new consensus politics in action. It doesn't mean you have to agree with the other parties all the time, just that you don't automatically rubbish their suggestions. Judge each proposal on its' merits and vote accordingly.
I sincerely hope Labour get 'on board' the new politics. They are the only ones missing out.
EyOOPS - thats the problem with this sort of site -you can't stop anyone reading anything - everyone got that? LS
"EyOOPS - thats the problem with this sort of site -you can't stop anyone reading anything - everyone got that? LS"
Jawohl, mein Herr!
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