Building wind farm would use up non-renewable resources
ACCORDING to the article by Nick Mann in the Guernsey Press regarding the possibility of a floating offshore wind project, it would appear that the cost to install this type of development would be in the area of some £180m., at current prices, with five turbines having 30MW of power ('Study findings float idea of viable offshore wind project', 19 May).
There is no argument that in the long term savings will be great by the use of renewable power sources such as wind, solar and tidal energy, but the amount of fuel that needs to be used to construct these wind turbines is massive – a two-megawatt wind turbine weighs about 250 tonnes and it takes about half a tonne of coal to make about a tonne of steel and if you need to set the tower in cement you will need about 25 tonnes of coal to make the cement, which means that you will need about 150 tonnes of coal per turbine – and coal is not replaceable.
Hopefully the people who are looking at the possibility of using wind power to keep the lights on in the island will be taking the matter forward at a very slow pace and consider all aspects of renewable power before making such an investment.
JON RUTHVEN,
Flat 11, Les Gravees Court,
Les Gravees, St Peter Port.
