Site last updated on Saturday, October 20, 2007

Fairwind (previously known as Windup) is a formally-constituted public group who are protective of Ardnamurchan and Morvern. Our areas are amongst the last Scottish wildernesses and do not want them despoiled, in the name of governmental political correctness and naked corporate greed, by the proposed installation of a wind factory which would be the largest, most intrusive and most damaging in Europe.

We do not oppose wind or any other renewable energy, provided it is on a sensible scale, and sensibly located so as to cause minimal damage to the visual and natural environment - indeed we are very supportive of initiatives to install turbines for and owned by the local community.

BUT the biggest industrial site in Britain has been proposed by Wind Energy, a London-based company (with an Edinburgh serviced telephone) who have spoken of an enormous wind factorywith up to 500 huge turbines, producing up to 1000 megawatts at peak output. The size of this factory could more than double wind power output in Britain and will straddle an area renowned for its stunning scenery and abundant and rare wildlife - and a number one tourist destination for thousands of UK and overseas visitors.

Each turbine, it is said, will be 346 feet high - that's three times the height of the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse, and the same height as the Forth Bridge or St. Paul's Cathedral. The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth is exactly the same height - and at sea level is visible from 23 miles away. These turbines are likely to be installed between 250 and 400m up on the hills - and therefore would be visible from over 75 miles away, and from almost every mountain top in Lochaber, Glencoe and the Nevis Range.

The effect on the visual and natural environment will be devastating - the area has thriving populations of Golden Eagles and White-tailed Sea Eagles. Ospreys have been reported recently in Sunart and the Corncrake population is increasing after years of shrinkage. We have a fragile population of Divers in the hill lochs. The river systems teem with Otters. Loch Sunart alone has eleven SSSIs, two National Nature Reserves, two National Scenic Areas, a European Special Area of Conservation and an RSPB reserve.

Wind factories built on the peat of the hills ruin the surface of the biomass, can alter drainage and water supply patterns for ever and cause access problems for fishermen, walkers and naturalists. Massive roads - an estimated one hundred miles of them, docks and storage areas must be built for access.

To get an idea of the scale of this proposal - if it came to pass in the numbers the London company has spoken of, and if they were spaced 400m apart, as recommended by the British Wind Energy Association, they would cover a strip of land 800m wide and 200km (120miles) long - that's the same distance as London to Birmingham or Edinburgh to Aberdeen.

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