'Weak support' for Wirral windfarm expansion plan

1:22pm Friday 29th June 2012 in News By Stephanie Cureton

'Weak support' for Wirral windfarm expansion plan 'Weak support' for Wirral windfarm expansion plan

PLANS to double the size of a wind farm off Wirral's coast have been given "weak support" by the borough's planners.

Denmark-based Dong Energy wanted the local authority's views on its proposals to increase the size of Burbo Bank wind farm from 30 to 75 turbines.

The company unveiled its plans last year to increase the size of the development, which sits four miles off the coast of Hoylake, to generate enough electricity for 170,000 homes.

However Wirral's planning committee, which met last night to discuss the plan, is "cautious" in its approach to the plans and has asked for more information.

Councillor David Elderton, Conservative spokesman for the committee, said: "I have been very concerned about the whole issue of wind farms for about eight years now.

"My objections centre mainly around the fact that they are not an efficient way of generating electricity.

"We didn't say we're supporting this particular application but broadly speaking, we are in favour of green energy such as tidal power and wave power.

"We were not sure about the benefits of wind power and we want to preserve our position until we have a lot more knowledge.

"I happen to live in view of the turbines and half the time they are not even rotating and therefore not being efficient energy sources at all."

If given the green light, the turbine development would cover an area of 40km square and would have a maximum "tip height" of 235m.

Committee chairman Cllr Bernie Mooney added that councillors were still concerned about the visual and environmental impact of the scheme.

She said: "We gave the plans very weak support in principle but an awful lot of work still needs to be done.

"The effect on tourism, jobs and the environment all need to be considered.

"It is still in the very early stages and we are being extremely cautious in our approach."

Comments(4)

hugo2008 says...
4:13pm Fri 29 Jun 12

These Giant Windfarms are going to march right up the River Dee and all round the River Mersey Coastline, that is one of the reasons the new electricity cables from Scotland to Deeside have not been routed buried in the mud and sand of the River Dee,
Nothing to do with wild life sanctuaries or environmental impact, we all know that whatever disturbance takes place will very soon recover fully.

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Wirral_Man says...
11:27pm Sat 30 Jun 12

Efficiency is only really a concept worth worrying about when the fuel you're using is expendive like coal or gas that needs to be dug out of the ground.

I the fuel is free (the wind) and adds no cost to the electricity generated efficiency matters less.

There's lots worse things that could happen there we could have a massive coal fired power station there instead!

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Conciliator says...
11:43am Sun 1 Jul 12

Unfortunately, the electricity is NOT free - due to the massive cost of manufacturing the wind turbines, constructing foundations for them out at sea and thereafter continuously maintaining them in a corrosive marine environment.

Wind power generation is around three times as expensive to produce as fossil fuel generation (official figures - not mine) and is only financially viable because of enormous subsidies and grants paid out by government (that is OUR taxes...) to the private companies promoting and selling the equipment involved. These continuing subsidies will be charged in fuel bills for future generations of power users.

Finally, whatever the perceived efficiency of wind generation, when the wind does not blow, no electricity is generated.... To avoid the lights going out, back up generation capability and capacity is necessary produced by fossil fuel or nuclear means. This is currently sourced from traditional power stations - that are reaching the end of their useful lives and being progresively decommissioned. If these are not replaced, we will suffer either massive power starvation - or need to buy more expensive electricity from Europe.

Relying on intermittent generation from unpredictable wind turbine sources is foolish at least and blindingly irresponsible at worst.

Renewable generation is fine in principle - but our 'leaders' should be concentrating on commissioning our excellent chartered enginering professionals to prioritising developing efficient means of generation from tidal flow - or any ither totally predictable source of energy.

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Conciliator says...
12:18pm Sun 1 Jul 12

PS. And another thing! We have not even taken into account the associated additional costs of connecting all these wind turbines together with large size water proof power cables and bringing electricity ashore for connection into the national grid. When these cables or connectiions inevitably get damaged (as they do in a hostile marine environment) it is obviously a difficult technical procedure to find the fault and repair or rectify it.

SUMMARY. Free electricitty? I do not think so... More accurately, a long term, unpredicatable, inefficient, liability for us all - coupled with what very many see as a gross visual intrusion to our unique Wirral seascape.

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