In Caithness, we have the Causwaymire Windfarm which produces enough electricity to do Caithness............if there was any facility to plug it direct into the County electricity sustem............................plus two other sites which give a total of 38 windmills currently working.
We have, in total, 18 proposed sites, 3 currently in production, 1 in construction and 3 approved...a total altogether of 51 windmills producing 85.25MW capacity...which is around 35 MW more than Caithness needs in power terms.
But we also have 6 sites submitted for approval, producing 229 MW, 2 of which are very close to 2 of the most important archeological sites in the County...the Camster Cairns and the Yarrows Trail.
Plus there are 4 sites with 129 windmills being waved around at us before submission, producing another 286 MW, and 1 under appeal with 12 windmills and 36 MW production.........and of course, there is also the proposed massive offshore windfarm I will be able to see from the window.
In the beautiful Highlands, including the West Coast, there are 50 sites, working and proposed, producing, eventually, hundreds of MW electricity....and there will be
enormous pylons marching across the most scenic areas carrying that electricity...............for whom?
Scotland is self sufficient in electricity without windmills, and exports to England and Ireland as it is.
I have always been for windmills, and think they are rather elegant, but where I have the problem is
our landscape being trashed by the siting of so
many sites/windmills, and
ourtourism, wild-life etc being harmed so that we in the North can export electricity to the NIMBY areas in the South.
Out of interest, can anyone tell me how many wind turbines there are/are proposed in England and Wales?