13.11.12 Another delay for Atlantic Array wind farm plans Western Morning News
Developers behind a massive array of wind turbines off the Westcountry coast “should cut their losses and go home” after a further delay to the controversial plans was announced yesterday.
The £3 billion Atlantic Array proposed for off the North Devon coast in the Bristol Channel has been billed as one of the largest green energy projects of its kind in Europe.
But RWE npower renewables yesterday announced its application to the Planning Inspectorate would not now be made until the New Year after staging a second round of public consultation.
That followed the company’s decision in the summer to cut its original plans from 417 turbines, some 8.5 miles (14km) offshore, to between 278 and 188. Major objections have been lodged against the scheme including from the National Trust.
Steve Crowther, spokesman for campaign group SlayTheArray.com, said: “Hundreds of people made their feelings known back in August, and opposition to the scheme in both North Devon and South Wales is growing all the time. Plus, the campaign is now going national, among the huge number of people who love these areas and want to fight for them.
“We suspect that the postponement is because the developer is trying to come to terms with the representations from the major environmental organisations, such as the National Trust, Campaign to Protect Rural England and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Trust, which clearly showed that the Bristol Channel location is unsuitable for this development, by the Government’s own stated standards.
“It may also be that the increasing problems that the big continental utility developers are having raising finance for these massive schemes has led to them deciding to take a step back and see how the land lies. I’d advise them to cut their losses and go home. The environment for building a vast turbine field off Lundy is not going to get any easier over the next few months.”
The plans sparked significant concerns on both the Devon and Welsh coasts, as well as on Lundy Island. Opponents have said the scheme would “destroy” the island as a unique refuge for wildlife and visitors.
RWE npower renewables confirmed it would be making its application in spring 2013: the original date was next month.
Development manager Craig Harwood said: “In order to give reasonable consideration to all the responses we have received, both during the consultation period in the summer and afterwards, we’ve decided to submit the planning application during the spring of 2013.
“This will mean we can consider all of the feedback thoroughly before submitting our application.”
04.11.12 Wind farm noise does harm sleep and health, say scientists Daily Telegraph
Noise caused by wind farms “clear and significant” damage to people’s sleep and mental health, according to the first full peer-reviewed scientific study of the problem. Read more
01.10.12 Wind farms given £34m to switch off in bad weather: Households stung by secretive payments Daily Mail
Wind farm operators were paid £34million last year to switch the turbines off in gales.
Two days last week saw householders effectively hand £400,000 to energy firms for doing nothing. The arrangement compensates wind farms for the National Grid’s inability to cope with the extra energy produced during high winds. Read more
01.09.12 Swansea City & County rejects Atlantic Array
Swansea Council’s Planning Committee held on Thursday 30-8-12 OBJECTED to the proposed Atlantic Array for a giant Wind Turbine Power Station offshore between north Devon and south west Wales as part of the consultation process. Out of 72 Councillors – 34 were absent & 28 OPPOSED the proposal and 8 supported it & 2 abstained.
Read the South Wales Evening Post report here.
29.08.12 Carmarthenshire Council ‘offer no objection’ to Atlantic Array scheme
Read the full story in the Carmarthen Journal here
The City and County of Swansea will be voting tomorrow (30 August). Their Planning Officers are recommending REFUSAL.
PRESS RELEASE 30.05.12
Atlantic Array ‘scaled back’ claim is wrong, say North Devon campaigners
RWE npower’s plan for the giant windfarm in the Bristol Channel is a disaster for North Devon, according to campaign group Slay the Array. The developer has not ‘reduced’ or ‘scaled back’ the proposal in response to public opinion, as has been claimed, but has increased the size of the turbines to be sited near the North Devon coast, the group says.
“The plan on the table is the same as before – but with one option removed”, said Slay the Array spokesman Steve Crowther.
“The previous proposal said that they would use 417 big, 300 huge or 188 massive turbines to create a (theoretical) capacity of 1500 MW. All they’ve done is remove the smaller-turbine option.
The company have now said that they will be choosing larger wind turbines for the development, ranging in height from 600 feet to 722 feet – almost twice the height of Lundy island.
“The capacity remains the same, and they now say they will use either the huge or the massive turbines to achieve it.
“This announcement is a ploy to make it look as though the developers have bowed to public opinion. In fact, they have not reduced the size of the development at all. Like the ‘extra’ consultation they announced in January, this is part of a carefully choreographed PR campaign.
RWE have now made clear that they will be developing the southern part of the area they identified, using larger turbines. The machines will be erected on the Stanley Bank, which lies only 7.5 miles from Lundy.
The windfarm will therefore now be four miles further away from the South Wales coast, but remains only 9 miles from North Devon’s surfing beaches and coastal walks.
“The closest point to the North Devon coast is 8.7m away – that’s the same distance as from Fullabrook to Huntshaw Cross.
“Everyone in North Devon knows how visible the Fullabrook turbines are from right around the estuary basin – and these turbines will be twice the size of the ones at Fullabrook.”
The confirmation that North Devon will bear the brunt of the windfarm’s impact is terrible news for the region, says Slay the Array.
Tourism brings more than a quarter of a billion pounds a year to North Devon and accounts for 17% of employment.
“That’s one in six people here whose jobs depend on tourism”, said Steve Crowther. “People don’t come here to see industrial machinery; they come to see unspoiled landscapes and seascapes.
“The North Devon fishing industry remains under threat, and there is no realistic prospect of the development creating any significant quantity of new jobs here, when South Wales has several large and well-equipped docks.”
Consultant publishes report that KPMG killed, saying UK climate change targets could be achieved £45 billion more cheaply by ditching wind
The consulting firm AF-Mercados UK, who authored a report at the end of last year for KPMG which suggested that wind power would add around £150 billion to the cost of achieving our long-term climate change targets, has now published the report itself, after KPMG decided not to.
The report, which was widely leaked before Christmas, says that nuclear and gas generation would be far more efficient ways of reaching our carbon reduction targets than wind. Ditching wind would save £45 billion by 2020 – and around £150 billion by 2050 compared with having the full 32,000 planned turbines in place.
The report has been slammed by KPMG, the Government and the renewables industry, of course, but is well worth a read. You can find it here, and the Sunday Times article about it here.
Developer publishes Summary of public consultation; delays submission of planning application to ‘Q4 2012′.
RWE/npower have published a Summary of their public consultations in North Devon and Wales during September–November and announced that they intend to hold further public consultations on publication of their Environmental Statement in ‘mid 2012′.
The new consultations are described as ‘informal’, perhaps signalling that they will not necessarily form part of the Planning Application.
Although stating that the consultations ended on 10 November, the RWE/npower document oddly does not record the additional public meeting they were pressured to arrange in Mortehoe/Woolacombe – the location most affected by the planned Array – which had unaccountably been left off the original meeting schedule.
Don’t be fooled into a false sense of security. RWE have the rights over this sea bed and are going to use them.
The announcement by RWE to delay the Atlantic Array plan by three months to allow further consultation with the public should be taken in the context of their previous declaration to RWE shareholders and the German stockmarket. In line with other German power companies, RWE is carrying out a review of their future business commitments as a result of the German Government’s announced intention to close their Nuclear Power Plants within the next two years. With the UK dependant on supplies from the European Grid these closures pose a direct threat to future supplies and cost to the UK consumner.
This will increase my carbon foot print I will just stay on the M5 and take myself off to Cornwall. As technology moves on these things will become even less economically viable. Will RWE be around to to clean up, at least with Nuclear there is no option. 30 years time these things will be a rusting mess in the Bristol channel.
The Atlantic Array will be the end of real tourism in North Devon, think hard, what will it do to everyone’s local lives?
In my opinion this enormous development could be the death knell for North Devon, particularly the coastal villages and towns such as Woolacombe and Ilfracombe etc. These coastal towns rely on the income generated by tourism and its associated buisinesses. I myself visited North Devon for holidays and weekend breaks for many years before I decided to move from London to Ilfracombe. The main reason for my holiday visits was the wonderful coastal scenery and unspoilt views. Had there been a huge industrial windfarm the size of the Isle of Wight just off the coast visible from miles inland, I would only have visited North Devon once and I certainly would not have moved to the area! If I, as a former tourist, feel this way, then I’m sure the majority of other tourists would feel the same. Also, by RWE’s own admission the surf along the coastline will be adversely affected, this can only mean very little or no surf. This is a huge industry in North Devon and another reason why many people visit this area. I do hope common sense prevails and that this is not already a done deal’.
I support your campaign wholeheartedly, hopefully the PM’s recent statement regarding the Severn Barrage which will provide the equivalent energy of 2500 wind turbines will help stop this proposal.
RWE npower Renewables hold the development rights for Zone 8.
Do we honestly think we can stop these abominations? They are done deals, the stakeholders are in it for the profits but we have to pay for the investment and infrastructure. No wonder energy bills are rising, we have to pay for the SmartMetering roll-out too. Foreign firms and Crown Estates will reap the benefits but we must pay, pay, pay.
Agenda 21 going forward!
http://www.maritimejournal.com/features101/marine-renewable-energy/welcome-to-round-3
Did you hear that Greenpeace is launching a torpedo-sponsoring campaign?
Thanks Alan, I must admit that I think that the uniqueness of the North Devon countryside is being spoilt by these wind turbines in a way they can look quite attractive, but unfortunately in a way that diminishes the beauty of the area. Like you, I hope that common sense will prevail yes, there will be a short term benefit to the economy in jobs and expenditure whilst the work force is here, but what about the long term impact to the economy, will we become pariahs and an area that no-one wants to visit any more?
The wrong solution in the wrong place. The barrage will be more cost effective . Even though the cost will be higher the consistency and quantity of power will be much greater and the ancillary equipment such as cables and sub stations will be more concentrated. Grid connections will be easier and grid overload which on a windfarm of this size will be frequent requiring turbines to be shut down in gale conditions wheras tidal can be better controlled and anticipated.
All of this is known and has been proved and stated many times but there is a stubborn resistance to logic and appaling refusal to listen which must somehow be overcome.
Appart from being an eyesore on the landscape, they will also be an easy target for our enemies in our our world of increasing danger, and a nightmare for security.
More ‘green’ idiocy.
This is insanity on steroids.The usual excuses will used, “renewable energy” and “saving the planet” The energy costs about 4 times that of coal and is intermittent anyway and global warming CANNOT happen because the ocean’s surface tension block heat vary effectively. This is simple to prove. Try heating water from above.