Mynydd Llansadwrn Action Group

Help Protect our Welsh Mountain Landscapes

NEWS ARCHIVE: 2008

• The Economics of Renewable Energy
  report of session 2007—08
  House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee 

  (see our note in June 2008 below)

  In November 2008 The House of Lords Select Committee issued its report on the economics of renewable energy. The full report can be viewed via this link: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldselect/ldeconaf/195/19502.htm

    Here are some of the Committee’s comments on wind energy:

·        Because of intermittency, a significantly greater capacity of wind-based generation is needed than for conventional or nuclear generation for any given output of electricity.

  ·   Wind power has a very low capacity credit (the probable power output at the time of need) so it cannot be relied upon to meet peak demand.

·        Wind power has to be backed up with conventional generating capacity to guarantee undisrupted supply and, therefore, should be seen largely as additional capacity, rather than a substitute for the substantial number of old coal and nuclear plants scheduled to be replaced by 2020.

·        The Committee was concerned that the Government was placing too much emphasis on short-term options such as wind power to meet its emission reduction targets, simply because they are available, rather than because they offer the most effective and economical means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions over the longer term.

·        The base cost of wind generation is relatively cheap; however, the evidence suggests that ‘the full costs of wind generation (allowing for intermittency, back-up conventional plant and grid connection), although declining over time, remain significantly higher than those of conventional or nuclear generation (even before allowing for support costs and the environmental impacts of wind farms).’

·        As wind output grows, flows on the transmission system will become more variable. British Energy pointed out that at very high levels of wind-generated electricity, there may be periods when it will be necessary for National Grid to instruct wind generators to spill power because renewable generation exceeds demand, net of other plants that are required to run. When National Grid is unable to accept power from a generator, through a lack of transmission capacity, it has to compensate the generator accordingly. So it will be paying for wind-generated electricity that cannot be used.

·        Although the stated aim of renewable installations such as wind farms is to protect the environment by reducing harmful emissions, it is also clear that these projects can themselves have adverse environmental impacts. Therefore, the Government should bear in mind the potential negative environmental impacts when it weighs the benefits and costs of expansion of renewable generation.

·        It is important that ‘incentives to promote those renewables which offer only intermittent supply do not divert attention from, and deter investment in, other low carbon generation options and thereby risk power shortages.’

·        The Committee considered the possibility that renewable heat could provide a greater contribution to increasing the UK's level of renewable energy usage. It points out that 2/5th of the UK's energy usage goes on heat as opposed to only 1/5th on electricity. Some options for renewable heat such as biomass and heat pumps can be cheaper than renewable electricity and do not suffer the same risks of intermittency of supply. The report calls on the Government to put as least as much emphasis on encouraging the development and use of renewable heat as they do on renewable electricity generation.

• July 2008

The Kentish Weald Action Group (KWAG) has prepared an article that challenges much of the information provided by the wind industry. Their conclusion, based on previously unpublished data, is that virtually all the energy from onshore wind turbines will have to be backed up.

To read the article click here  

• June 2008: 

We have included a report from outside Wales - a good news story from FELLS Spring Newsletter (Friends of Eden, Lakeland & Lunesdale Scene).

Congratulations to them and all their supporters! Click here for a download in Adobe format.

• June 2008:

Dr Nina Pierpont has written a new book on the subject of health hazards from the vibrations of wind turbines, referred to elsewhere on this site as vibro-acoustic disease (see our news item from May 2007).

Wind Turbine Syndrome is the clinical name she has given to the constellation of symptoms experienced by many (though not all) people who find themselves living near industrial wind turbines: sleep problems (insomnia), headaches, dizziness, unsteadiness, nausea, exhaustion, anxiety, anger, irritability, depression, memory loss, eye problems, problems with concentration and learning, tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

  As industrial windplants proliferate close to people’s homes and anywhere else people regularly congregate (schools, nursing homes, places of business, etc.), Wind Turbine Syndrome likely will become an industrial plague.

Click here to get more information about the book

• June 2008:

The Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords is conducting an inquiry into ‘The Economics of Renewable Energy’ and has invited written submissions on the issue.

The Mynydd Llansadwrn Action Group has submitted the following evidence on the economic, social and environmental costs of wind farms. Click here for a download in MS Word format.  

Here is the link to submissions to the House of Lords select committee. Ours is listed among them. Click here for the link.

• April 2008:

• February 2008:

• January 2008: More news on turbine noise from Italy:

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