Offshore wind
Good news or dull news that the Government have announced the possible locations for offshore wind farms off the Hebrides?
A bit of both, as far as I am concerned.
It is good that certain areas have been ring fenced as 'possibles', as it clearly delimits the 'not acceptable' areas, which was a policy decision that was sorely lacking in previous rounds of decision influencing by Ministers.
The bad news is two fold.
The areas defined are so large as to be nothing more than splodges on the map of areas not ruled out for any other reasons.
Secondly, the technology doesn't yet exist to exploit these areas, and having spoken to the operators of wind farms in the very shallow waters of the North sea off Denmark, I know just how vast the challenges they face are. Move into the teeth of Atlantic Gales and it is a infinitely more difficult challenge, and one that is likely to be unachievable for the foreseeable future. Although I will be delighted to eat my words.
Next month, the Government plan to announce that North Uist will probably be be able to produce enough energy to power Western Europe from the innovative Pixie Dust harvesting competition they are launching.
A bit of both, as far as I am concerned.
It is good that certain areas have been ring fenced as 'possibles', as it clearly delimits the 'not acceptable' areas, which was a policy decision that was sorely lacking in previous rounds of decision influencing by Ministers.
The bad news is two fold.
The areas defined are so large as to be nothing more than splodges on the map of areas not ruled out for any other reasons.
Secondly, the technology doesn't yet exist to exploit these areas, and having spoken to the operators of wind farms in the very shallow waters of the North sea off Denmark, I know just how vast the challenges they face are. Move into the teeth of Atlantic Gales and it is a infinitely more difficult challenge, and one that is likely to be unachievable for the foreseeable future. Although I will be delighted to eat my words.
Next month, the Government plan to announce that North Uist will probably be be able to produce enough energy to power Western Europe from the innovative Pixie Dust harvesting competition they are launching.
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