Wind turbine threat to Wildlife at Boddington Reservoir, Northamptonshire

[andmillsy]

Boddington Reservoir is a popular area for many leisure activities including bird watching.

A company called Partnership for Renewables has made a planning application for a 122metre high (think the London Eye) industrial wind turbine close to the reservoir.

Please submit an objection to the proposal to help safeguard wildlife in this area.
Please act quickly deadline for objections is 6 April 2011

You can find more information including a draft objection letter.
Windfarm | Byfield Online
Windfarm | Byfield Online

Please support and help protect this area from inappropriate development.

[Lancashire Lad]

I wish you luck with your petition/objection.

Many of these small scale schemes (less than 5MW generating capacity) are springing up solely on the back of the "Feed-In-Tariff" scheme, introduced by the Government last year.

That scheme is little more than an ill conceived get rich quick scam, allegedly introduced to encourage domestic consumers to install renewable energy technology. (In reality it is a cynical ploy to massage Britain's renewable energy figures, which are way behind schedule to meet the European Union's now legally binding target of 15.4% of Britain's energy total by year 2020).

However, the Feed-In-Tariff as legislated allows for generating schemes of up to 5MW to be included, and plays directly into the hands of the get rich quick merchants who are now trying to get such schemes built wherever they can.

Many of you will already be aware of the reports of farmers & land owners being "cold-called" to see if their fields could be used to erect these wind turbines and solar panels on, and we will undoubtedly see many more such schemes popping up all over the country. - Big bucks with minimal effort for the farmer/land owner, and even bigger bucks for the enterpreneurs when they collect the FIT subsidies from the Government, which will pay them roughly four times the going rate for electrical generation - for at least the next twenty years!!

And we all know who pays the money into the government's coffers at the end of the day, don't we .

Dig deeper dear taxpayer, dig deeper.

Regards,
Mike.

[Lancashire Lad]

Apologies andmillsy, but my explanation of subsidy payments under the Feed-In-Tariff scheme was incorrect. (I didn't have my thinking head on, and was mixing up the Feed-In-Tariff with the Renewables Obligation Certificate subsidy scheme). - I'd like to put that straight for the record.

The cost per KWh generated is not paid to the installation owner as a direct subsidy by the government.

Instead, the government requres the electricity supplier, (into who's system these <5MW installations output their generated electricity), pays the installation owner.

So it is the likes of e-on, npower, Scottish Power, etc. etc., who is paying these inflated generating costs to the get rich quick entrepreneur. (Sorry - installation owner ).

In turn, they recoup this outlay, (the specific Feed-In Tariff cost per KWh having been dictated by the Government), by a percentage increase added to the bills of all their customers.

So every electrical consumer pays a higher electricity bill, for the privilege of making the get rich quick entrepreneurs very rich indeed.

You may deduce my rather overt cynicism of these schemes, but the fact that applications have increased exponentially since the Introduction of the feed-In-Tariff might just have something to do with it.

Regards,
Mike.

[andmillsy]

Thanks for the comments. The development is in a valley hence the excessive height of the turbine. Despite low wind speeds the inflated tarrifs still provide a good return to the landowner (British Waterways) and the developer (PFR).

I would like to highlight that this proposed wind turbine is very close to the High Speed 2 rail route (HS2). The developer has failed to assess cummulative impacts in their environmental statement despite requests of local community. I am very concerned that wildlife populations will become increasingly isolated through these adjacent developments.

[andmillsy]

Additionally close to this proposed development Lord Spencer of the Althorp Estate near Priors Harwick and Wormleighton in Warwickshire has announced his intention to develop 13 (yes thirteen) 110 metre turbines on his land.

Again this is in close proximity to the HS2 proposed route.

I along with other local residents are concerned if the single turbine near Boddington Reservoir is allowed it may encourage developers to assess the area as amenable to these developments and lead to more of these monstrosities.

Please help and object to the application with the details provided at
Windfarm | Byfield Online

[Gill Catton]

Hate to play devil's advocate, but I'm not sure the turbine will have a negative impact on the wildlife particularly if there is just one. Most wildlife seem to just ignore turbines in my experience. Although animals are indeed sometimes killed by the turbines it has been relatively small numbers in everything I have read and this mortality level is unlikely to have an impact on overall population sizes. (Again particularly if there's only one turbine)

In addition, If the water body is already used for recreation, species sensitive to disturbance are unlikely to be present regularly or in significant numbers.

Either way I don't feel I know enough of the detail to object. I have to apologise but I certainly wouldn't object just because some people think they are an eyesore, for me that's just not a strong enough reason.

[andmillsy]

Gill,
Thanks for taking the time to share your view.

The main concern with respect to wildlife is bats. The area is a haven for a diverse bat population. This includes the rare noctule bat which I understand flies at a height making it susceptible to turbines. The developers Environmental Statement states because few rare bats were found in their surveys only very few are at risk of being killed by the turbine ! These few could represent a significant impact to the local population.

The reservoir is used for leisure activities but not at night so still very attractive for bats foraging.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by andmillsy

Gill,
Thanks for taking the time to share your view.

The main concern with respect to wildlife is bats. The area is a haven for a diverse bat population. This includes the rare noctule bat which I understand flies at a height making it susceptible to turbines. The developers Environmental Statement states because few rare bats were found in their surveys only very few are at risk of being killed by the turbine ! These few could represent a significant impact to the local population.

The reservoir is used for leisure activities but not at night so still very attractive for bats foraging.

I spend a lot of my job carrying out bat surveys, phase one surveys and such like at proposed windfarm sites and on existing ones. I dont know the local area so carnt comment, however we find that the impact on bats (and birds) is largely dependent on the position of the turbine. I have had lots of sites with noctule (a fairly common species to be fair). I would need to see their report if the turbine was say 100 meters from trees, hedgerows it would have a minimal impact on this species however if it was right next to trees it could have a large impact. The other problem is roost sites, if there are significant roost sites local it may be an issue if not then it wont, it can be as black and whit as that, sometimes. We have regularly had to force planners to change their positioning of turbines.

Leislers and nathusius pipistrelle are also two species we consider to be at high risk from turbines. It is important to keep a 50m (75m is better) buffer around any features attractive to bats like trees, hedgerows, ditches, dykes, ponds etc. Siting a turbine across a hedgerow would be a disaster in this respect.

Without knowing to much on this site though its hard for me to comment in much detail. There is also the threat to birds if the lake attracts wildfowl positioning again needs to be understood. I would hope that an ecologist has looked at this before giving the go ahead to the project.

[rossy]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Hate to play devil's advocate, but I'm not sure the turbine will have a negative impact on the wildlife particularly if there is just one. Most wildlife seem to just ignore turbines in my experience. Although animals are indeed sometimes killed by the turbines it has been relatively small numbers in everything I have read and this mortality level is unlikely to have an impact on overall population sizes. (Again particularly if there's only one turbine)

In addition, If the water body is already used for recreation, species sensitive to disturbance are unlikely to be present regularly or in significant numbers.

Either way I don't feel I know enough of the detail to object. I have to apologise but I certainly wouldn't object just because some people think they are an eyesore, for me that's just not a strong enough reason.

ok gill read that you dont think it has an impact on wildlife, well i totally disagree, ive seen it first hand up on scout moor, near me, in particular with birds, it used to be a haven for them, lots of different species breeding, NOT NO MORE , and they stuck 26 of them up, so what impact they have nationwide i dont know, ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW HOW MANY FATALITIES,in birds there has been, but you can bet its thousands, rossy.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by rossy

ok gill read that you dont think it has an impact on wildlife, well i totally disagree, ive seen it first hand up on scout moor, near me, in particular with birds, it used to be a haven for them, lots of different species breeding, NOT NO MORE , and they stuck 26 of them up, so what impact they have nationwide i dont know, ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW HOW MANY FATALITIES,in birds there has been, but you can bet its thousands, rossy.

I'm not sure this is the thread for this debate and I think it's been covered well on other threads.

I have spent two months walking in concentric circles weekly around turbines and there were very few casualties.

In addition I've read quite a few journal articles now and significant impact on birds is rare. It's largely down to where they are sited.

Without knowing how the impact of this single turbine has been assessed. It's difficult to dismiss it.