I got sight of some of it this month, with a briefing in Bournemouth on the Navitus Bay offshore wind project off the South Coast, which aims to put in capacity for 1,100MW(enough to supply 790,000) homes using about 130 turbines, reaching to a maximum height of 200 metres, spread over 175 square kilometres from 14 kilometres off shore at the closest point.
The area is, the consortium told us, relatively geologically benign for such a project, the chief precaution will need to be ensuring that drilling into chalk doesn’t result in too many suspended solids, and concerns about the bottle nosed dolphin and bird life can be answered with sensible precautions.
This is clearly an immensely sensible project, with the possibility of significant local benefit, particularly in the ports of Poole, Yarmouth and Portland – not to mention the reduction in carbon emissions of a potential 1,150,000 tonnes/year in Britain. And it has backing from local and national green groups. https://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/support_navitus_bay_offshore_39270.html
It isn’t exactly as we might like it to be, a joint venture between the Dutch multinational Eneco and the far from clean-handed EDF, but with an expected total project cost of £4bn over the 25-year life of the project, there’s no current alternative on the table.
This is a project that has already been through one round of consultation, which resulted in a reduction in its size, and consequently generating capacity, but it is clearly running into loud local political opposition, even if polls show strong majority support – and also strong support from local green campaigners of various stripes.
The chief, quasi-rational, complaints, beyond those opposed to wind turbines on “religious” grounds that they are somehow “the work of the devil”, is that tourism might be affected. But personally, when I am strolling along or lying on a beach, I don’t spend my time peering into the far distance, trying to make out what those distant objects are – and the evidence is that most other people don’t either.
This is the Jurassic Heritage Coast, but it is that because of its geology (Lyme Regis fossil-hunting is great fun, I know from personal experience), which won’t be at all affected by this project – which couldn’t be said of one alternative for Britain’s energy future, fracking, for which initial licences have been issued in this area.
That’s not to mention the fact that the dash for gas that George Osborne seems determined to pursue is an expensive, uncertain alternative to renewable energy. Eighty-five per cent of the leap in home energy costs over the past decade has been due to the rising cost of gas, and the International energy Agency predicts that its price will double in the next decade. Britain’s horribly over-stretched family budgets simply can’t afford it.
If you want this important project to proceed, you can show your backing for the project not just for locals but for those who would allow us to say that the project would not in any way put them off visiting this lovely area (https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-carbon-support-navitus-bay-offshore-wind-farm).
I commend it to you – to help (affordably) keep our lights on, and to take one more step to dealing with the state of our economy. https://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/14/record-400ppm-co2-carbon-emissions
Natalie Bennett
