Wind Energy Planning

Yes2Wind Revolutionised

A wind energy support website started by Greenpeace, Friends of the the Earth (FOE) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been revolutionised further to the site coming under ‘new management’ last year.

The Yes 2Wind website was set up many years ago as an information hub for wind farms in the UK. Supporters could use the facility to find out the location of their nearest wind farm proposal. In May of last year, the original NGOs approved the free of charge aquisition of the Yes2Wind domain by yes2wind limited. The new team is made up of directors with a history of involvement in the wind sector. Yes2Wind Directors say that the aim of the company has always been to finance and resource the project in order to enable it to achieve its original objectives of providing information to wind energy supporters. Active co-operation with NGOs and local support groups is also an integral part of these objectives.

The site was substantially transformed and launched at last year’s British Wind Energy conference. It now includes a resource bank of wind farm facts, pro wind local and national support groups and an updated and complete version of the wind farm locator – with proposed wind farm details. The locator aims to plot the progress of planning applications through the planning system of every British wind farm in excess of 1MW installed capacity. Yes2Wind say it is vital for people who support clean energy to speak out in favour of wind energy locally. Yes2Wind Director John Everett said:

Storm Brews Over UK Electricity Needs

Electricity regulator ‘Ofcom’ announced this week that there is doubt over the energy market delivering sustainable electricity supplies for British needs.

Ofgem blames the global financial crisis, tough environmental targets, increasing gas import depency and the closure of ageing power stations.

In response to this discovery the Regulator recommends ‘far reaching energy market reforms’. Reform options have been put forward for further consultation and include a centralised renewable energy market and a central buyer of energy.

Ofgem’s Chief Exec Alistair Buchanan said:

Wind Energy Protesters Dirty Tricks Campaign

Anti-wind farm campaigners were caught red handed faking letters of objection to a wind farm the BBC revealed this week.

The local planning authority in central England discovered the fraudsters after writing to acknowledge the objections. According to Harborough Council, nearly 100 people responded saying they had not written the letters. Harborough Council are ‘reviewing their processes’ as a result of the revelations.

The Gartree Wind Farm comprises 3 turbines proposed on an airfield to the west of the town of Market Harborough. It was refused by local councillors last week. Community wind farm company Energy4All expressed its disappointment over the reasons for refusing the 3 wind turbines.

Energy4All’s John Malone said “We and our many supporters are obviously disappointed not to have won approval at the first attempt particularly as we felt objections were already addressed….We, together with the Council, also seem to have been the victim of a dirty tricks campaign. The Council has received many letters of objection to our proposals purporting to be from individuals, who when contacted by the Council were concerned to state that they had sent no such letter. We understand that the police are looking into this, and suggest it is symptomatic of a range of false allegations and the myths perpetrated by a small number of protesters.”

Excitement over Green Energy Fixed Payment Rate

The UK wind energy sector, householders and community groups have welcomed new fixed electricity payment tariffs for small scale renewable energy technologies announced today. The UK government is set to put in place the ‘feed in’ tariffs for electricity produced by renewable energy projects of up to 5 Megawatts (MW) capacity.

From 1st April this year people and companies who install renewable energy generators of 5 MW or under will receive the guaranteed payments for each kWh of green electricity they produce.

Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said:

“The guarantee of getting an income on top of saving on energy bills will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make the move to low carbon living.

“The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities think about their future energy needs, making the payback for investment far shorter than in the past.

“It will also change the outlook for a range of industries, in particular those in the business of producing and installing small scale low carbon technology.”

Middle England Groups and Wind Energy Companies Disagree over Spatial Planning

Wind energy companies don’t like spatial planning. They have been warning UK government decision makers against the strategic allocation of renewable energy sites for years. The key reasons for this stance are a) the risk of completely unsuitable areas being allocated for a particular renewable energy technology and b) a whole host of potentially suitable areas being sterilised uneccessarily because they have not been allocated as appropriate for a particular renewable energy technology. Renewable energy technology requirements change fast according to technological and commercial parameters.

Sterilising effects have been experienced in practice where local planning authorities have commissioned studies of their own areas and then gone on to identify green ‘go’ and red ‘no go’ areas. The sterilisation of these areas will in turn have a further impact on already failing moves towards meeting renewable energy targets.

Some national organisations are however pushing for strategic identification of renewable energy sites such as those for wind farms. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) produced a joint statement with the National Trust last year promoting the spatial planning approach. They are still peddling this approach with RSPB representatives telling the Energy and Climate Change Committee earlier this month that the government’s new national policy statements (NPS) should include spatial guidelines for renewable energy development.