It’s been a mixed week or so for the wind power industry. On April 22nd, the Scottish government rejected plans to build one of Europe’s biggest onshore wind farms owing to “significant adverse impacts” on the local environment. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, billionaire Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens has launched a plan to spend $10 billion on building the world’s biggest wind farm.

Lewis Wind Power, a consortium of AMEC and British Energy, wanted to build 181 turbines on the Isle of Lewis, with a capacity of 651.6 megawatts — enough to meet 20% of Scotland’s average domestic electricity consumption. The £500 million project was turned down on the grounds that it did not comply with European Union law protecting sensitive environments, and would damage peatland and threaten rare and endangered bird populations.

Lewis Wind Power are understandably rather pissed that things have turned out this way for the 6 year project, which had already been scaled down from the original planning application, lodged in 2004, for a 234-turbine wind farm, at that time the biggest on-shore proposal in the world. Read their press release here, and the Scottish Government’s decision here. The bottom line is that Lewis Wind and their consultants invested an enormous amount of time and money in evaluating the environmental impacts of the project, and concluded there weren’t any, or at least none that weren’t outweighed by the economic benefits. Unfortunately, the government completely disagreed:

“The Lewis Wind Farm would have significant adverse impacts on the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area, which is designated due to its high value for rare and endangered birds.

However, you will be pleased to hear that:

“This decision does not mean that there cannot be onshore wind farms in the Western Isles. I strongly believe the vast renewables potential needs to be exploited to ensure that the opportunities and benefits of new development can be shared across the country in an equitable fashion.

“That’s why we will urgently carry out work on how to develop renewable energy in the Western Isles, in harmony with its outstanding natural heritage. This work will result in an action plan for sustainable development on the islands and will be ready in the autumn”

Perhaps it’s finally dawned on someone in the corridors of power that the planning process for these large projects has to be ripped up and rewritten. Spend six years covering every angle and issue at great expense, only to have it knocked back by the planners? It amazes me that companies still step forward to play these games. What ought to happen, which is hinted at in the government statement, is that the parameters for the various impacts are defined at the outset: “This is what you can do, this is what you can’t do, if you think you can follow the rules and still make money, give it your best shot, with heavy penalties if you screw up”.

I wonder how much thought is being given to environmental issues by T. Boone Pickens’ company Mesa Power, which next month will start acquiring land and ordering the 2,700 wind turbines that will eventually generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity – the equivalent of two commercial scale nuclear power plants – enough power for about 1 million homes. The scale of this project is absolutely enormous. Running north-south from Saskatchewan to Texas would be thousands of wind turbines, exploiting some of the best wind production conditions in the U.S. Running east-west from Texas to California would be large solar arrays, generating electricity for growing Southern California cities like Los Angeles. Such a huge project, requiring so much land, must surely run into opposition somewhere.

The Observer reports that Britain is running out of renewable energy, as a surge in demand from businesses has outstripped the supply of electricity generated from ‘green’ sources. Firms’ interest in reducing their carbon footprint has far exceeded new capacity coming on-stream. This leaves companies which have pledged to become ‘carbon neutral’ with a sizeable headache. EDF is ‘prioritising’ existing customers, Npower says the amount it can supply depends on how much customers can pay, and Good Energy, a renewable-only electricity supplier, is turning away very big orders.

What some might consider a surprising popularity of renewables in the business fraternity is being led by large companies, who are obliged to pay the climate change levy on electricity from fossil fuels. The situation isn’t helped by the snail’s pace of the UK planning system, with wind energy projects which could supply one in six British homes mired in bureaucracy.

So much for the power of the market.

‘Business runs out of green energy supply’

Shares in Renewable Energy Holdings (REH.L) were up today on the news that the green technologies firm has agreed a deal to purchase the Kobylany wind farm site in Poland, which will provide 30 MW of generating capacity with an accompanying off-take infrastructure and transformer station. REH will pay €68,000 per MW of generating capacity, making a total of €2.04m. The agreement allows for an initial lease term of 25 years, with an option to extend for a further 25 years.

The annual lease payment will be €25,000 (plus VAT) with an additional annual payment of €7,000 (plus VAT) for each turbine on the site. It is expected that there will be 15 wind turbines altogether. Construction is expected to start in Spring 2008, financed by REH’s credit facility with Standard Chartered Bank. Good to see the credit squeeze doesn’t apply for renewable projects.

REH is active in wind, wave and biomass. The company owns the CETO wave energy technology, which it is developing in co-operation with Carnegie Corporation.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that the necessary legislation for a more relaxed planning regime for domestic microgeneration equipment – solar panels, heat pumps, biomass boilers and combined heat and power schemes – will be published in Spring 2008. The results of a consultation paper, on the extension of householder permitted development rights for microgeneration, were published last month.

“The Government wants to encourage the widest possible take-up of microgeneration equipment whilst ensuring the reasonable interests of neighbours, the environment and the wider community are protected.
“In the light of the responses to the consultation, the Government now intends to provide permitted development rights for the following types of microgeneration: solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, biomass and combined heat and power, subject to specific limits and conditions that will ensure that any adverse impact on others is not significant.
“We will be bringing forward secondary legislation to implement these changes for householder microgeneration in Spring 2008.”

84% of respondents agreed with the proposal that there should be no additional permitted development rights for hydropower
microgeneration. The government “does not intend to provide permitted development rights for this type of microgeneration”.

Permitted Development Rights for Householder Microgeneration: Government response to consultation replies

The Eden Project is already a world-renowned attraction and now it’s looking to add an extra edge to its success. Their latest building, the Edge, will demonstrate options for energy supply, water conservation and waste management intended to act as models of how we all might live in the next decades. From www.theedge.org :

“Its scale and ambition will make the Edge an international icon of sustainability, showing mankind is capable of amazing things. The building will be a model of cutting-edge architecture and technology, harvesting water and energy from the sun, wind, and rain to show how we all might live in the future. It will be a testament to one-planet living, built to the lowest possible carbon footprint and designed to last.

“The awe-inspiring oasis, desert, water gardens and underground chambers inside the Edge will become somewhere to inspire and explore new solutions, rethink our values and our goals, work together to create a positive future.

“The point of the Edge is that while resources may be limited, the imagination isn’t. The building will create a setting for asking questions fundamental to our future

• What makes humans content?
• How can we still find richness in our lives without rampant consumption?
• What lessons from the past can inform the future?

“We will look back to understand how people coped with change in the past. We will look at people living ‘on the edge’ today to learn from the ingenious solutions they have put into practice. We will look forward to explore how we can find the spirit, imagination and knowledge to adapt to the challenges facing us.

“The Edge won’t be a building about climate change, it will be a building because of climate change.”

Sounds wonderful, but once you’ve fought your way past all that blowsy rhetoric, what have you got? Using language reminiscent of an Olympic bid, under the flag of sustainability, the Eden Project wants to build another biome to attract more visitors and generate more revenue. Why should we care? Because Eden wants to fund this with Lottery money. The Big Lottery Fund has put up a prize of £50m to be granted to a single “inspirational” project as part of The People’s £50 Million Lottery Giveaway. The Edge is one of four shortlisted projects, along with Sustrans’ Connect2, Sherwood:The Living Legend and the Black Country Urban Park.

The winning project will be decided by public vote in December 2007. Have your say at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk.