Little Raith, How many homes will be powered?
If we look at West Coast Energy site for Little Raith Industrial Wind Farm, they provide the following claim, that the the Industrial Turbines will power 15,400 homes. This figure is also touted in local press reports with the addition that it is enough energy to power all homes in Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Lumphinnans, Auchtertool, Kelty and Ballingry for a year. However, this is based on the name plate capacity of 2.75Mw per turbine.
Developers often use the name plate capacity to show very high unachievable targets and benefits. In reality the actual capacity generated from Industrial Turbines is much lower. Developers will insist that they can at least produce 30% of their name plate capacity which means that only 4620 homes will be able to be powered by Little Raith Wind Farm.
However, research conducted in England has shown that only 8 Wind Farms out of 104 Wind Farms were able to produce 30% or more of their name plate capacity over a year. 30% of energy production is very low in terms of meeting our energy needs and the fact that 96 Wind Farms couldn’t even provide this amount, highlights a very real concern that Wind Energy is just not suitable as an alternative for our energy demands.
Research conducted in Scotland showed that Wind Farms in general only produce 10-15% of their rated capacity. If we apply the lowest figure to Little Raith Wind Farm, then only 1540 homes will be able to be powered from Little Raith Wind Farm.
This is a very low number and we must ask ourselves, is it really worth risking the health of individual community members, lowering the property values within the 4 areas, and wasting a community resource on an unproven technology that is very inefficient in terms of actual energy produced?
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I would urge those who are interested in this debate to check out the following websites. The evidence is growing rapidly to give the other side of the story about wind farms, the story the developers don’t want us to know. The more research I have undertaken, the more I can say that wind farms (for me) are not the answer to our energy needs. Please note especially the adverse effects on health and the danger to wild-life especially birds.
More and more people are waking up to the facts that this form of energy isn’t as clean as the claims that are made. We need some upfront, honest debate by authorities and companies which involve presenting all the facts and to include the public’s views.
When you see the map of Scotland and all the proposals for wind-farms, we are being inundated with them. Recently it has become known that yet another wind-farm developer has plans for the Lochgelly area, Auchtertool was able to object to a development on the basis of spoiling the landscape, what about the Lochgelly landscape?
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/category/locations/europe/uk/scotland/
Wind Power News: Scotland. Presenting the facts about wind power
http://www.windfarmaction.com/index.html
Calling for a re-think and a UK wide moratorium on windfarm development
http://www.epaw.org/index.php?lang=en
European Platform Against Windfarms
Thank you for your comment. Our volunteers are in full agreement with you. The research we have conducted into the technology and health studies has provided numerous peer reviewed research showing that the current technology in use never matches the claims by the developers, pose health risks, and damages the environment by culling birds, destroying natural habitats and increasing CO2 levels.
The industry has no peer reviewed research to back up any their claims. When we say peer reviewed we mean someone has conducted research and other scientists have looked at the research and agreed to the conclusions of the research. The industry can only provide scientific reports, ie reports that have been paid for by the developers.
2 x 20m turbines were rejected at Auchtertool for the visual impact but Lochgelly gets 9 x 126m turbines passed, makes no sense.
Also at the latest Community Council meeting another Wind Farm developer requested a meeting with the Community Council, looks like another wind farm development for the Lochgelly area.