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Push for wind projects will cost Scottish consumers many billions
Credit: Letters: Push for wind projects will cost Scottish consumers many billions | 20th August | www.heraldscotland.com ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
The request by your readers for Holyrood to issue hard facts on wind farms in Scotland (Letters, August 18) will never be met as there is a wall of silence on this topic. However, until the Growth Commission report is issued, here are a few facts that may assist your readers to understand the economics of renewable energy.
The first is that electricity is three times more expensive than gas, hence replacing domestic gas will see a vast increase in energy bills for Scottish consumers. In addition, electricity from offshore wind farms is paid a subsidy of £100 per MWhour plus the current grid price, or three times that from Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) units.
If the data in a paper written by Professor G Hughes (of Edinburgh University) are correct then wear and tear on wind turbine blades means that the units only have a 10-year life instead of the design figure of 25 years with a further increase in the cost.
The cost of the Neart na Goithe wind farm is given as £5 million per MW installed. Scots use six times more energy from gas than that from electricity, hence phasing out gas means a £420 billion price to install sufficient wind farms. MSPs have never indicated how Scottish consumers can meet such a bill.
The final fact is that there is 12,000 MW of generation to meet a maximum demand of only 5,000 MW yet MSPs have never explained why additional plant is required. I trust these facts assist Lyndsey Ward et al in understanding the financial impact the policies of our MSPs will have on their future energy bills
Ian Moir,
79 Queen Street, Castle Douglas.
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