Our Press Release - 3rd October 2023

PRESS RELEASE 3RD October 2023

The Highlands needs protecting from the ruinous industrialisation by Big 'green' Energy

COUNCILLORS AND OTHER ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES ARE TOLD:  ‘PICK A SIDE – IT IS US OR THEM’

Over the last couple of weeks rural citizens in Scotland have been taking part in an online demonstration by furiously emailing firstly ALL their local authority councillors and then ALL MSPs and Scottish MPS with their views about the industrialisation of Scotland by private energy companies.

These are ordinary people fighting against the proposed onslaught by SSEN’s concrete and steel road show of massive nation changing infrastructure and the expected tsunami of offshore sized wind turbines to be speared into their environment. This is directly encouraged and enabled by the Scottish government.

Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) has supported this action as they continue to demand evidence of need.

This is a question that has not been answered by SSEN (despite repeated prompting), the Scottish government, the Electricity Systems Operator and cannot be answered by Ofgem, as confirmed by a FOI.

Ofgem approves SSEN’s Initial and Final Needs cases for their proposals yet does not hold the data that proves need for them. 

That is extraordinary.

CB4PC member and instigator of the online demonstration Ellen Ritter says: 

“We are being ignored, with no information as to why this is the right way forward, why we need this mass destruction which doesn’t benefit us. 

 It has been overwhelming and some days it seems there is no hope for our future. 

It just got to a point when I felt we really needed to take action which might get our elected representatives to take notice of our views.

Many of us have individually written to our elected representatives. However it seemed that many groups and individuals emailing to all the representatives at the same time would have more impact.   

There was an agreement to do this so we started by contacting all our Regional Councillors.   

 We are now in the middle of contacting all MSPs and MPs.

It won’t stop there. These really are online demonstrations.

They have already succeeded because people are coming together, to add their voices and their stories to the message.  

The message is simple.

We are the people of Scotland. We have a right to decide our future.

Stop what you are planning. Put us before big business.

 After all, this is still a democracy. Isn’t it?” 

On the 29th September “2023 SSEN held a ‘webinar’ that has been reported as a somewhat pointless tick box exercise as pertinent questions on need were not answered.

Roddy Wilson SSEN Planning Manager said:

“SCOTLAND IS A PROVIDER AND ENGLAND IS A CONSUMER”.

That statement has infuriated a lot of communities even more as many in Scotland do not want their rural spaces colonised by Big ‘green’ Energy for the benefit of England or anywhere else. It has been shown that England cannot take the vast increases of wind energy proposed by the industry and the Scottish government. It won’t for some time and may never want more Scottish wind as it works on its own energy security with offshore wind, nuclear and subsea from Morocco.

The over production of something with no end market is a poor business model unless, of course,  the poor beleaguered consumer is there to dig deep and cough up millions in constraint payments to compensate the wind operators for not being able to sell their over already deployed electricity.

This issue of need has become a political hot potato and we at CB4PC intend to keep it that way.

The emails below were sent to all Highland Councillors by one of the founding members of CB4PC Lyndsey Ward.

All emails sent by others were personal and individual.

A similar version was also sent to every MSP and Scottish MP on 28th September 2023 .

One reply came from green MSP Maggie Chapman.

Considering the green party backs Big ‘green’ Energy her reluctance to engage was not exactly an endorsement of her support for rural communities over private companies.

Politicians are being asked to ‘pick a side’ and ‘stand with us or against us’ before it is too late.

This will not go away. Big ‘green’ Energy has to be stopped for rural Scotland and its communities’ sakes.

****************************ENDS ****************************************

Attached: Wind energy figure analysis

Contact for Communities B4 Power Companies

Lyndsey Ward Tel: 07899035135 Email: cb4pc.press@btinternet.com

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Email sent to Highland Councillors 25th September 2023

The Highlands needs protecting from the ruinous industrialisation by Big 'green' Energy

I am writing to you to draw your attention to the alarm, distress and disgust across the Highlands to the industrial concrete and steel road show engulfing communities across rural Scotland. 

We are currently seeing an unprecedented onslaught of offshore sized wind turbines, gargantuan pylons, overhead lines, massive substations and battery storage facilities proposed in our beloved natural environment.

Under the pretence of ‘saving the planet’ ruthless and wealthy multinationals are dropping application after application into our already burdened local authority. It would appear to be a deliberate strategy to overwhelm and demoralise rural citizens. It is no exaggeration to say we feel under siege.

There is no evidence whatsoever that what is being proposed will change what the climate does and developers spread fear by telling us we have to accept their industrial carnage or risk an apocalypse.

It is time to demand evidence for everything developers tell us to promote their applications and not just roll over and succumb to industry propaganda.

I am one of the founding members of Communities B4 Power Companies. 

This group was formed in the spring of this year in the aftermath of SSEN’s public ‘consultation’ regarding the Spittal to Beauly overhead lines and shocking substations. Nowhere could we see that communities would be protected. Nowhere did communities seem to matter. 

I will never forget the ashen faces leaving Kilmorack Hall near Beauly or those with eyes full of tears as they realised just what SSEN had in store for them.

That is what spurned myself and likeminded residents on to question the need for all this. Communities B4 Power Companies has rapidly reached over 2100 members on Facebook. People have joined looking for help, support and, most importantly, hope to fight against the threat to their way of life and the natural environment.

They are not interested in community ‘benefit’ as no amount of money can make up for what they will lose.

We instructed a planning policy expert and figures from Ofgem and the Scottish government were analysed.

The result?  No - we don’t need any of this. 

Scotland already produces enough wind power for itself. We also have sufficient transmission for our needs although some upgrades could be necessary new transmission lines are not. The new overhead lines are speculative; a business model; a commercial enterprise for Big Energy, for private multinationals that have been encouraged to harvest rural Scotland for profit and to enrich their shareholders. It is a frightening prospect and mirrors what we did as a nation in the past which we have to continually apologise for. 

The public inquiry for new OHLs at Dalmally showed how speculative these lines are as SSEN reluctantly admitted under questioning only 6% of capacity had customers meaning 94% was to encourage more wind developments that we do not need and the power of which England cannot take and probably won’t for a decade. Will it ever need more Scottish wind with its nuclear and offshore wind programme and its proposed subsea cables to Morocco?

More wind power will mean a bigger bottleneck at the border and bigger constraints paid by the UK consumer to stop turbines generating into the grid. It currently stands at £1.5b. Constraints appear to be the new public subsidy. How much more should the poor and vulnerable fork out for Big Energy?

This is a cart before horse policy and it is time for it to be challenged instead of obediently approving Big Energy applications when there is nowhere for more wind power to flow to. 

The current rash of battery storage applications is not a viable solution.  They are purely to make money, a lot of money buying cheap energy and selling at an inflated price when the wind doesn’t blow, again burdening the consumer and communities here and those overseas for the huge quantities of lithium that will be required. Lithium mining itself on the scale needed for battery storage is an environmental disaster in the countries it is mined in. Water theft is commonplace leaving indigenous peoples unable to grow crops or water their livestock. 

As a nation we cannot continue to destroy the environment of others in order to virtue signal in our own country.

It is time Councillors questioned the ethics of such developments and demand to be shown that the ‘green’ credentials are indeed as clean as we are led to believe. 

To support unregulated and unethical lithium mining is immoral and unacceptable to any decent person.

We should also question the origins of steel used to make turbines and pylons and other infrastructure. The majority, if not all, undoubtedly come from China where coal mining and burning has increased to produce it. Not only that the resulting turbines and infrastructure are transported to us in diesel ships. None of that is factored in to or added to the emissions of the industrial hardware that lands here when promoted in a planning application as helping towards government climate targets.

It smacks of deep hypocrisy and unbelievable that no politician seems informed or brave enough to ask the pertinent questions and demand answers from this seemingly all powerful and unchallenged industry.  

The Scottish government has recently signed a deal with the wind industry to speed up planning applications. The industry does not want public inquiries. This makes a farce of local democracy and must be resisted at every level.

The Scottish government wants 20GW of onshore wind by 2030. 

Analysis of figures* shows we already have 19.9GW of onshore wind operational, under construction, approved and in the planning process in April 2023.

Conservative estimates for wind energy in 2030/2032 with what we have in planning (as at April 2023), offshore, extensions and repowering indicate we will have 72GW in Scotland. Ofgem figures suggest Scotland will need 9GW in peak winter by 2042. That could mean it is entirely likely we will be producing eight times what we need from wind alone and nowhere for the energy to go to.

WE DO NOT NEED MORE!  

Communities B4 Power Companies wants a moratorium on further wind turbines, substations, battery storage and OHLs proposals until need is irrefutably proven.

As a group we have sent a professional submission to SSEN and the Scottish government asking for evidence of need including an overarching plan for the Highlands, Scotland and the wider UK. We have also asked for one planning application for each of the three lines that Beauly is expected to ‘host’. What a benign word ‘host’ is. It belies the devastation that is intended. 

This was in April 2023 and only after several prompts did we receive a response from SSEN that did not answer our questions so we submitted a FOI to Ofgem. They have recently replied that they do not hold the information we asked for. That is extraordinary considering they approve SSEN’s Initial Needs Cases and Final Needs Cases for their developments. We are to now go back to SSEN with the information we have received from Ofgem and demand they answer our questions clearly and honestly.

If you are not already aware SSEN is 75% owned by SSE, probably the biggest and most successful wind developer in Scotland. They are also the recipients of a large portion of the constraints paid out by consumers to turn turbines off. Their financial interest in the environment altering infrastructure proposed by SSEN is undeniable.

The other 25% is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Nothing to do with Scotland and far removed from the carnage proposed by their investment.

I implore you as not only a resident of the Highlands but also a passionate environmentalist to stand up and speak out for us, the communities targeted by Big Energy in the name of ‘green’, and for the environment and wildlife we should all appreciate and be protecting. 

Yours sincerely

Lyndsey Ward

Beauly


*Attached wind energy figure analysis.

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Email Sent to all Highland Councillors  2nd October 2023

Dear Councillor

Thank you to the few of you who have responded to my email dated 25.9.23 calling for help to protect the Highlands from Big ‘green’ Energy.

Thank you also to all those who took the time to read my correspondence but did not reply.

I sincerely hope that every one of you considered the content and implications of the information that I sent to you.

I fully understand why those connected to the planning committees cannot comment but the purpose of my email was to ask you to make a stand against any further development if there is no evidence of need.

I was not talking about individual planning applications but the whole thing – the turbines and the infrastructure.

That means calling a moratorium and challenging the Scottish government’s build, build, build policy when there is no guaranteed route to market. 

Please help us get the answers we have asked for.

Where is the evidence of need for all the new wind turbines and massive infrastructure?

The paying public deserves the facts and figures that prove exactly what is needed for ‘Net Zero’.

What is ‘Net Zero’?

Telling us that ‘need has been established’ is not good enough.

Who has ‘established’ it anyway?

The industry?

It’s not Ofgem according to a FOI and the Scottish government and SSEN haven’t come forward with any evidence. Communities B4 Power Companies will continue to push for the truth and the evidence but we need elected representatives to understand the enormity of what is in front of us and stand with us. This is not going away. You will have to pick a side.

We have a right to have answers– before it is too late. We must be able to count on your support to protect the Highlands from those private companies who come, harvest, destroy lives and the environment and leave us to live with what they have done. 

Where is the fairness? Where is the justice? Where is this ‘just transition’ we are told about?

Has Highland Council the resources to deal with tsunami of planning applications that are definitely coming their way? Should residents of the Highlands suffer further financial burdens and have their planning committees tied up with dealing with multiple complex applications from the energy multinationals with a seemingly never ending depth of pocket?

We also need public inquiries so that developers’ plans can be scrutinised and they can be cross examined by independent experts. This is industrialisation on a massive nation altering scale and we, the paying public and affected communities, deserve the opportunity, in a public forum, to have our say.

Thank you again

Lyndsey Ward