Interested to see that the sea off Wales will be home to one of the largest offshore windfarms in the world. Consisting of 160 wind turbines it should come online in 2014.
I view that with a certain amount of ambivalence, on the positive side –
- Power from renewables has to be good.!
- It’s a large capital project which is positive for the economy of both the UK and Wales.
- New technology is exciting!
But there are also negatives for me –
- Foreign companies (Dutch and German) seem to be the main players and whilst this is a private investment project it seems a shame that such an undertaking cannot be more ‘British’. (I’m sure there’ll be government financial ‘sweeteners’ in there somewhere finding their way even further offshore than the wind farm…)
- I’m not yet convinced by the cost effectiveness of these projects. Given the massive upfront investment then ongoing sizeable maintenance costs is this form of power really cost effective when compared to alternatives? (including, heaven forbid nuclear power which we are rarely able to have a grown up debate about in this country).
One to watch with interest…
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