Seafield wind turbine generates debate in Holyrood and The Evening News
June 23, 2011 by Ally We are delighted to report that our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine within Seafield Waste Water treatment works has been the subject of motion at the Holyrood parliament, thanks to new Edinburgh MSP Kezia Dugdale. It reads:
S4M-00300 Kezia Dugdale: Scotland's First Urban Community Wind Turbine? —That the Parliament notes the joint venture between Greener Leith and PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) to build and operate the first 100% community-owned urban wind turbine at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Plant; commends their drive in pursuing the feasibility of such a project; considers the costs involved in producing noise and wildlife impact assessments prohibitive and encourages the Scottish Government to maintain and develop the schemes that it operates to ease the burden of such explorative work; considers that the development could generate tens of thousands of pounds for the local community; recognises that the environmental impact on the landscape must be assessed alongside its value as an asset to the whole community, and looks forward to seeing the results of the feasibility study in due course.
The motion currently has the support of the following MSP's:
Jamie Hepburn, John Pentland, Bill Kidd, Elaine Murray, Mark Griffin, Sarah Boyack, Mike MacKenzie & John Park
Should you wish to use a service like www.writetothem.com to encourage further sign-up by your local MSP's then we'd be most grateful.
Recently, the Evening News published an opinion piece by a Mr Robert Duncan, who is sceptical of our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine at Seafield waste water treatment works. You can find his opinion piece here
As we felt that the piece was somewhat misleading, we are delighted that the Evening News published an edited version of a letter we put together in response to Mr Duncans letter.
We publish our response in full below here too:
Sir,
Robert Duncan made some interesting points in his opinion piece, “Why sewage plant turbine plan is such a stinker, Monday 21 June.
While it is unfortunate that the 1kw wind turbine on his roof performed poorly, this does not necessarily mean that the proposed community turbine at Seafield will also fail. The obvious difference is that Seafield is on the coast, and therefore windier than the city centre. But our proposed turbine will also be installed at a hub height of between 60 and 98 metres, where wind speeds are considerably higher than at roof level. The rated output of our turbine will also be between 500 and 2,300 times greater than roof-mounted turbines. We will be measuring the wind resource at Seafield as part of our feasibility study, and if the wind is shown to be insufficient, we will not proceed with the project.
Mr Duncan’s assertion that urban wind turbines are unsuccessful would be disputed by the managers at the Michelin factory in Dundee, where two turbines have generated nearly 30 million kwh since they were installed 5 years ago. That’s equivalent to a third of the plant’s electricity needs.
Mr Duncan asserts that solar power, not wind, is the answer. We agree that solar can play a big role in cutting emissions, which is why PEDAL last year promoted this through its “Solar Porty” scheme. It’s also possible that the revenue from the Seafield turbine could subsidise the installation of solar panels on local residents’ homes.
We hope that the urban communities of Portobello, Leith and Craigentinny will not miss out on the opportunities that this renewable revolution holds.
Yours faithfully
Jane Lewis
Chair
PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town
Charlotte Encombe
Chair
Greener Leith
Lastly, if there is anything you can do to help to encourage more people to sign-up to support our bid on Energy Share we'd be most grateful. If you have a Facebook account or a Twitter account please share this link with anyone who you think would be willing to support the plan now:
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