Information on Wind Turbines

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• Visual comparison of wind turbine against Campbells Tower, Kings Lynn
  added 31/03/08
  
  
• The protocols for public engagement with proposed wind energy developments
  - added 03/10/07
  These are detailed guidelines to the process of public engagement for wind energy developments.  Effective engagement between a developer, the local authority, statutory consultees and the local community can help to ensure that proposals for developments in a locality are better.  Supporting effective engagement is not about being in favour or against a particular proposed development. It is about trying to make sure that:
  i) decisions made in the planning system are as well-informed, evidence-based and timely as possible, and;
  ii) any development that is permitted reflects an understanding of local interests and opportunities for positive local gain.
  
  
• Read the experience of people who live near wind turbines


• The Case Against Wind Farms - Country Guardian


• Transport & Construction


• Videos concerning Wind Turbines
  
  
• The Visual Issue
  
  - added 22/03/2008
  For over a decade, windfarm visualisations have been a subject of controversy. Many communities across Scotland believe that the photomantages presented in the Environmental Statements are misleading and do not provide an accurate prediction of visual impact. This link takes you to a paper that endeavours to lift the veil of technical complexity to give you the facts behind the issue and the new SNH Guidance.

What's in the Papers

• An ill wind blowing?


• Wind farms 'make people sick who live up to a mile away'
  
  
• Article in Wisbech Standard - FENLAND: Parish council chairman issues warning over wind turbines (added 01/04/08)

General Information on Wind Turbines

• A Problem with Wind Power by Eric Rosenbloom
  Wind power promises a clean and free source of electricity. It will reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels and reduce the output of greenhouse gases and other pollution. Many governments are therefore promoting the construction of vast wind "farms," encouraging private companies with generous subsidies and regulatory support, requiring utilities to buy from them, and setting up markets for the trade of "green credits" in addition to actual energy. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aims to see 5% of our electricity produced by wind turbine in 2010. Energy companies are eagerly investing in wind power, finding the arrangement quite profitable. A little research, however, reveals that wind power does not in fact live up to the claims made by its advocates... Read full article

Noise and Health Issues

• Professor Peter Stiles of Keel University has completed tests in relation to a wind farm at Dunbar in Scotland and has found that infrasound vibrations are detected 10 kilmetres (6.2 miles) from the site of 60 metre turbines as soon as they start to generate. If the turbine has 3 blades (as is usual) and it turns at 20 revs per minute, then there will be a THUMP every second. Imagine 26 turbines all thumping away at once!
  
  
• "When wind farm developers do surveys to assess the suitability of a site, they measure the audible range of noise but never the infrasound measurement — the low frequency noise that causes vibrations that you can feel through your feet and chest. This frequency resonates with the human body — their effect being dependant on body shape. There are those on whom there is virtually no effect, but others for whom it is incredibly disturbing". Dr Amanda Harry
  
  
• Wind Turbines, Noise and Health
  A report on research carried out by Dr Amanda Harry
  
  
• Low Frequency Noise and its Effects
  A Report for Defra by Dr Geoff Leventhall
  
  
• Studies On Wind Turbine Noise Raise Further Concern
  
  
• Noise, Health and Human Rights Issues
  
  
• The assessment and rating of noise from wind farms - added 03/10/07
  
  
• The measurement of low frequency noise at three UK wind farms - added 03/10/07

The Environment

• "Clusters of 400ft high turbines can dominate the countryside for many miles around, whilst the foundation depth they need can cause damage to the infrastructure of the land and to hydrology (the water table), in terms of ditches and water courses". Roger Helmer, Member of European Parliament East Midlands.
  NB This statement is particularly relevant to the area of Marshland St James!
  
  
• Sunday Times, July 2004, reported... Some respected environmentalists believe here is only realistic alternative available, and it is recognised by the man who opened Britain's first wind farm, Professor James Lovelock, the much-admired seer behind the Gaia concept of the planet as a living organism. He, too, has now turned against wind power. He believes nuclear power is the greenest energy option. It is a proven supply of signicant capacity and does not consume fossil fuels. Fells also supports it. Fells said "There is no doubt that we need all the electricity we can get that doesn't create carbon dioxide, but predicating this almost entirely on wind when there are other, less obtrusive technologies seems simplistic, stubborn and perverse..."
  
  
• A Furness couple have won a legal ruling proving that the value of their home has been "significantly diminished" by the construction of a wind farm nearby, because of damage to visual amenity, noise pollution and the "irritating flickering" caused by the sun going down behind the moving blades of the turbines 550 metres from the house. In so doing, the judge made what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind relating to wind farms.
  
  
• What is the impact of wind farms on house prices?
  A report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors of a study done in February 2007 concerning the effect of wind turbines on house prices. The study was based on residential property near wind farms at two locations in Cornwall, and apparently seems to show there were no changes in property prices beyond one mile from the wind farms.
  
  
• Landscape and visual impacts - added 03/10/07
  
  Landscape and visual impacts are among the most far-reaching effects of onshore wind farm developments. They are generally of greatest concern to the public, and are frequently the reason why wind farm proposals are opposed. However changes to the landscape happen all the time, and as such wind farm developments can be accommodated in the landscape.
  
• Wind farms impact on radar aviation interests - Final Report - added 03/10/07
  
  
• Aeronautical and military Impacts - added 03/10/07
  
  
• Wind Energy And Aviation Interests – Interim Guidelines - added 03/10/07

Efficiency of Wind Turbines

• Graeme White of Garrad Hassan told us that 20,000 turbines would have no effect on reducing fossil fuels as "spinning reserve" was still required at all times for the largest generator that could go down." Philip Stott in The Times.
  
  
• Efficiency of Wind Turbines
  A report on research that shows results vary enormously due to location. The capacities offshore are encouraging, whilst those onshore are generally only superior in locations very distant from the populations requiring the electrical energy.
  
  
• Europe-Wide Blackout Report Hints At Wind Turbines Cause
  
  
  
• Onshore Wind Is Stunting Other Renewables
  The BWEA’s report confirms what critics have long been saying, namely that onshore wind is suppressing support for other much better renewable technologies such as tidal and biomass, which are capable of producing reliable power. Onshore wind isn’t the best and the cheapest, it’s just the least capital intensive method to achieve access to the subsidy.
  
  
• German Expert Warns Of Wind Energy's Economic Downside
  "Many industry analysts believe that our current renewable energy policy just isn’t delivering the sort of economically compelling example which alone can impress the developing world. The latest evidence from Germany confirms this view and shows just how far off track we really are. We need a radical overhaul of both our renewable energy and our climate change strategies"
  
  
• "Horror" At Ministerial Approval Of Romney Marsh Wind Farm
  This proposal, though physically gigantic, would generate only a miniscule 0.0004 of UK electricity. Yet it will cost the UK electricity consumer nearly £7 million a year in consumer subsidy to the wind developer.
  
  
• Wind Report Fundamentally Flawed
  The Sustainable Development Commission’s (SDC) ‘WIND POWER’ report, was dismissed as fundamentally flawed by The Renewable Energy Foundation (REF).
  
  
• Report Debates Role Of Wind Power In Reducing Co2 Emissions
  
  

Damaged Wind Turbines

• Wind Farm Blaze Raises Concerns ofer Siting
• Twisted and Broken Blades
• Photographs of Common Wind Turbine Accidents
• A compilation of Wind Turbine Accidents

Other links of Interest

• Best Practice Guidelines for Wind Energy Development - added 03/10/07
  
  
• Delivering community benefits from wind energy development: a toolkit - added 03/10/07
  
  
• An Energy Review Consultation - added 03/10/07
  
  
• Whinash Windfarm Public Inquiry, Refusal Decision - added 03/10/07

Correspondence to FLAT

• The Generation of Energy or Subsidies?