Scotland recovers from storm as row blows up
As Scotland works to get back to normal after Thursday’s gale-force winds, Channel 4 News looks at the row over wind power after a turbine caught fire in the storm.
Hurricane conditions that left tens of thousands of homes in Scotland without power have eased and the country is attempting to restore normality. But around 50,000 homes are still without power, down from 80,000 earlier in the day.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who chaired the Scottish Government’s Resilience Committee, said: “While the worst of the weather has now passed, we are seeing the after-effects of this storm with a number of homes across Scotland still left without power. Contractors are working hard to resolve remaining issues with power supplies and on our transport network in difficult conditions.
“They report that they expect that the vast majority of homes will have power back over the course of today.”
The vast majority of homes will have power back over the course of today. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy have between them had at least 1,300 staff working to restore power. Scottish Power have returned most of their customers power.
All travel restrictions have now been lifted, although some minor roads are still blocked with fallen trees and water. In Orkney, severe weather has caused widespread damage and flooding.
Most schools are now open, with just a few still shut in remote areas such as Orkney, Sutherland and in some parts of Argyll, Shetland and the Western Isles.
Wind turbine fire
Opponents of wind power have made much out of the fact that one 100-metre tall wind turbine in North Ayrshire burst into flames and in Coldingham in the Scottish Borders, one crashed to the ground.
In a statement, Infinis, which runs the turbine that caught fire, said: “Infinis confirms that a nacelle on a turbine caught fire this afternoon in extreme stormy weather conditions. The fire had extinguished itself before the fire services arrived. All staff vacate wind farms when wind speeds exceed 55mph and therefore no one was present on site at the time of this incident.”
There are 3,000 onshore wind turbines across the UK, within 298 wind farms.
Wind turbines: ‘no good when the wind doesn’t blow and no good when it does’
Sir Bernard Ingham, secretary of the pressure group Supporters of Nuclear Energy, said: “They are no good when the wind doesn’t blow and they are no good when the wind does blow. What on earth is the point of them?
“They represent the most ridiculous waste of people’s money. Let’s go into something that works. It’s called nuclear.”
But Robert Norris, the spokesman for Renewable UK, the trade body for the wind and marine renewable industries, said the negativity was “uncalled for”.
He told Channel 4 News: “In the last quarter we have stats for, renewables generated nearly 10 per cent of the UK’s energy and half of that was from wind.
“If you think about the exceptional weather we had, that was one turbine out of 3,000, and the others are providing low carbon electricity and stopping us having to import gas from abroad.”
He said it was “inevitable” that people would be worried about turbines catching fire after yesterday’s pictures, but added: “The other images, of elegant structures of engineering, turning gently and generating clean energy – we need to see those as well.”
While the machines shut off at certain speeds, Mr Norris said the turbines operate for 22m hours a year on average, generating electricity for 80-85 per cent of the time.
Men missing in Cairngorms
Separately, police and mountain rescue teams in Scotland are searching for a group of five hill walkers from the Aberdeen area who have not been seen since Wednesday. Grampian Police said they have been joined by Tayside Police and Marr Search and Rescue, combing a large area from Loch Muick in the Cairngorms.
A police spokesman said: “The walkers are well equipped but given the weather we have experienced in the last couple of days, we are concerned as to their whereabouts.”
Winds reached speeds of 165mph in the Cairngorms on Thursday.
The Met Office has today issued yellow weather warnings for the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, north-west England, Northern Ireland and much of Scotland, and have advised people to be aware of icy conditions.