Back on Sept 11, North Devon Council rejected the Atlantic Array, but the plan was to go to the secretary of state for a final decision. Rumour is now circulating that the plan is to be scrapped. This will be a great victory for commonsense if it turns out to be the case. First the BBC report from September:
Plans for an off-shore wind farm double the size of any currently operating in Britain have been rejected by councillors in north Devon.
About 25 protesters against the Atlantic Array plan attended the North Devon Planning Committee meeting.
After two hours of speeches and debate, councillors voted 10 to three to reject the scheme on six grounds.
A final decision will be made by the Secretary of State next year.
Atlantic Array
Up to 240 turbines
Turbines will be up to 220m (721ft) high
Capacity: 1,200 MW, enough to power about 900,000 homes
About 16.5km from the closest point to shore on the north Devon coast, 22.5km from the closest point to shore on the South Wales coast and 13.5km from Lundy Island
Connected to mainland at Alverdiscott
RWE npower had said it would produce enough power for the average needs of 900,000 homes.
Councillors said they rejected the plans due to the lack of economic benefit to the area, damage to the beauty of north Devon and tourism and its closeness to the coast.
Campaigners had argued the amount of power produced would not outweigh the impact on north Devon.
Steve Crowther, from the Slay the Array group, said: “It was very important that we had from North Devon Council a clear indication that this was not a fait accompli and we are going to fight on.”
Now there is a strong rumour developers RWE are pulling out. This from the North Devon Gazette:
THERE have been unconfirmed reports tonight that plans for 240 wind turbines 9 miles of the North Devon coast will no longer go ahead.
It is understood that plans for the Atlantic Array wind farm will no longer go ahead due to the financial strain on the developers RWE.
RWE have not yet confirmed the claims, but it is thought the cost of the plans, along with the Government announcing cut backs In green investment, will mean the wind farm is no longer financially viable.
The controversial plans, which would span 77 square miles, have been met with much local resistance, and have been rejected by both North Devon Council and Torridge District Council.
Many local opposition groups including Atlantic Dissarray, and Slay The Array have been set up against the plans.
There have also been concerns internationally, with the European Commission launching an investigation into the effect the development could have on harbor porpoise.
Geoff Fowler, chair of the Atlantic Array Steering Group, which has consisted of members of Torridge District Council, North Devon Council and Devon County Council, has said the news has come as a complete shock.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Perrrfffiiiick!!!
Good. Kill off these useless dangerous pieces of garbage.
The BBC is now reporting –
“Atlantic Array wind farm ‘dropped by developer'”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-25095868
Some days the good news makes the news.
1200MW eh?
Better get fracking then.
Let’s hope this turns out to be evidence that Cameron really is against the “Green C**p”.
‘In recent days it has been announced that RWE npower has sold a 49% interest in its recently completed Middlemoor scheme to Greencoat UK Wind PLC.
Greencoat is an investment fund set up with the help of the government to invest solely in UK wind farms. It has currently invested in ten schemes, with a net generating capacity of 184MW. Since listing in March, it has added four assets to its portfolio.
The Government supported Greencoat’s Initial Public Offering and was reported to be taking shares worth about 50 million pounds through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) using part of the £3 billion pounds of state funds allocated to the U.K. Green Investment Bank.
William Rickett, former Director General of the government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, is on the Greencoat board. It is reported that he left the department before the fund’s was created.’
http://www.windbyte.co.uk/index.html
Aw, did ums lose a wee subsidy? Poor ums.
Just heard on the BBC breakfast news: this project is ‘shelved’! Allegedly there were ‘technical problems’, according to the Davey department – and the BBC says there are also financial problems.
Well, I happen to think that the campaign “Slay the Array”, run by Steve Crowther, may have had something to do with those ‘problems’ … but then, I would say that, wouldn’t I …
Great morning!
Now for slaying HS2 …
If you have ever seen the offshore wind farms like the Thames estuary array from Clacton or the East Anglia array from Great Yarmouth you will know that just how damaging the visual impact of these monsters are. Nor does offshore wind avoid non-human other environmental impacts because they kill migrating birds and ducks. Their only advantage is purely political because there are no MP constituencies at sea. Britain’s coastline is under threat from a band wagon of vested “green” ideology interests supported by 300% subsidies from the government.
The north Devon coastline from Woolacomb down to Saunton is irreplaceable and would be utterly ruined by this crazy scheme. RWE for their pains were only following the green gravy train egged on by DECC and their “advisers”. How conceivably could this madness anyway “tackle climate change” ? What power source powers these 900,000 homes when there is no wind – a wish and a prayer ?
There are long term solutions to energy supplies but offshore wind is certainly not one of them.
‘In recent days it has been announced that RWE npower has sold a 49% interest in its recently completed Middlemoor scheme to Greencoat UK Wind PLC.”
This sits beside a recent report that SSE had come to a similar arrangement with an independent , asset holding City vehicle set up for the same purpose, and no doubt there are others of which we are as yet ignorant. In the case of SSE 100% was sold with a guarantee to purchase all output and we may expect to see RWE also divest completely over time.
A convenient arrangement for when the Turbines reach the end of their unpredictable financial viability window and the holding company then folds leaving the taxpayer with the clean up bill which originally resided with the commissioning Energy giant.
What’s not to like?
Great news that the Atlantic Array has been abandoned. It faced concerted opposition from the word go, considering its proposed siting off the coast of North Devon. However Triton knoll array is still in the pipeline, off the coast of sleepy Lincolnshire, where the locals are not nearly as vocal or well organised. I don’t even think there is a web-based opposition to this monstrous proposal which could be 288 turbines max., even more than the AA.
Triton Knoll is smack bang in the middle of a major migratory route for birds into and out of the Wash. It will have an immensely damaging environmental impact, quite apart from the visual one. Perhaps those people who so effectively opposed the construction of the Atlantic Array will now lend their campaigning expertise to the effort to urgently get Triton Knoll scrapped.
Wind power is only ever a part-time alternative power source, never a primary one. It cannot replace other types of generation without energy storage, which isn’t happening.
When will the advocates of wind power get this through their heads?
As a member of Slay the Array, I can confidently say that the people of north Devon are over the moon. I was on radio5 Live at 7.13am this morning to say so.
The feeble press release from RWE is here:
http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/86182/rwe-innogy/news-press/press-release-09-july-2013-export-cables-in-at-gwynt-y-mr-offshore-wind-farm/?pmid=4010256
My interview on the Atlantic Array can be heard at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03j9wsw
It starts at about 01:13:09 and lasts till about 01:15:50.
Not bad I thought for 7.13am.
When will the advocates of wind power get this through their heads?
The advocates are those being drip fed public money. Turn the tap off and after initial outrage they will evaporate instantly !
@ Jaime Jessop:
You might like to contact Steve Crowther about how the ‘Atlantic Array’ was slain, I’m sure he’d give you some hints regarding how to proceed.
Phil Bratby: Very well done sir! DECC’s statement fools no-one here. Looks like the tide is turning to me. DECC can huff and puff, but if the treasury says they can’t have our money for this wasteful and damaging purpose, that’s it.
Colliemum: I will contact Steve to congratulate him and encourage him to run a seminar for other groups.
“Capacity: 1,200 MW, enough to power about 900,000 homes”
Do the math – this is 1.3kW per household!
What is the origin of this ridiculous claim? Even if the wind were blowing hard, and all windmills running at 100% capacity, only every second household could bring a kettle of water to boil! Otherwise a blackout would follow (if there weren’t these terribly dangerous backup power stations run on coal).
Colliemum and tallbloke. Thanks. I Googled Triton Knoll opposition and all I came up with was Lincolnshire Council’s objection to the proposed ONSHORE cabling! http://www.offshorewind.biz/2013/07/15/uk-lincolnshire-county-council-defies-triton-knolls-onshore-infrastructure/
It’s a joke. Nobody seems to have noticed or even care much that this monstrous array is going ahead.
I will also email Steve Crowther and Slaythearray to see if they can give advice on setting up some sort of concerted opposition to TK because I am sure that Slaythearray played a large part in getting the AA shelved. Congratulations to all those involved. We must defend all our shores against these ridiculous industrial developments.
Jaime J: I have some excellent pamphlets produced by UKIP packed with info on opposing windfarm developments. I’ll email you for an address to send some to.
“Capacity: 1,200 MW, enough to power about 900,000 homes”
They always say this but surely they are listing the maximum rated output in ideal conditions which probably only occur every decade or so.
Apart from which this is the rated output of one nuclear power station or several coal power stations which are reliable………
That’s great. Thanks Rog.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Supporter, Atlantic Array Abandoned RWE npower announced yesterday that they no longer intend to develop one of the world’s largest offshore wind turbine arrays 9 miles off the North Devon coast, between Lundy Island and the Gower Peninsular. Which all goes to show that sometimes you CAN win, and that people power does matter. A huge thank-you from all of us at Slay The Array to all of you who have supported us and helped save this unique maritime and coastal environment from being spoiled. A record 1775 of you registered as Interested Parties for the enquiry into this project. That’s 8 TIMES MORE than for any previous offshore wind enquiry. Well done. Now, let’s go and save the Jurassic Coast! http://www.challengenavitus.org.uk Yours, Steve Crowther Chairman, UKIP and spokesman for Slay The Array ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for putting up that e-mail from “Slay the Array”, Rog – saved me the labour!
Just to emphasise: eight times more people registered as Interested Parties for the enquiry than for any other.
I dare to assume that this might have had just a little influence on RWE’s decision …
IAW – it can be done, and as always: success breeds success, so onwards to slay some more arrays!
[snip] Crowther.[snip] an elected chairman is on my list……
Result!
FRACK BABY FRACK!
It is right that we should be seeking to protect our historic coastline from the visual and environmental impacts of turbine development. However, the links above make provision for development in some areas where the impacts will presumably not be as severe and the authors state that they are not per se against renewable offshore energy.
I’m not sure if this is UKIP’s official stance but I think that ALL onshore and offshore windfarms should be shelved as they are an inefficient drain upon the public purse and an environmental menace.
Triton Knoll is just the latest and most monstrous proposed addition to wind farms in the Greater Wash area. It would seem that this area has been earmarked for development precisely because local opposition is likely to be muted.
http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/licensing/public_register/cases/thewash.htm
Already two visually intrusive arrays are up and running, with more granted consent or in the planning stage. Triton Knoll WILL be the largest offshore wind farm in the world with possibly 150 220m turbines.
I don’t see any concerted opposition to this assault upon the Wash environment. My personal feeling is that the Wash (along with other areas around our coastline where planners might find it easier to gain permission for development) is being ‘fast-tracked’ for offshore wind development with minimal public outcry.
Click to access 0501%2002%20ES%20V2%20C9%20Seascape%20and%20visual%20impact.pdf
http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/licensing/public_register/cases/thewash.htm
The Crown Estate, which no doubt will gain financially from ludicrous subsidies paid to it for granting use of the sea-bed for these turbines is, in my opinion, complicit in wrecking our coastlines with these monstrosities.
http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/energy-infrastructure/offshore-wind-energy/
My philosophy is oppose one wind farm, oppose them all.
Spot on. As a resident of Lincolnshire -the most sparsely populated county in the country- it is difficult to raise what TPTB call meaningful opposition to these developments because of sheer lack of numbers. Hell in some places to object you’d barely find a hundred dwellings in view of the monstrosities. BUT you can’t object without a reason. Government stupidity, sadly, is not a reason.
The only upside to any of these offshore developments in my mind is that once the sediment is back on the bottom, it means that fish can breed there in safety, along with the molluscs and sand eels.
As long as they can put up with the low frequency acoustic din and vibration from 288 ‘windmills’, each more than twice the height of Big Ben!
Great article from Will Heaven on Telegraph Blogs
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100247878/lundys-salvation-is-about-more-than-nimbyism/
Well Jamie, I’d rather they didn’t find out. However I’m not in a position to stop them am I?
Capital is getting out of Green, and looking to pass on residual commitments to tax payers 🙂
Wonder what the next big boondoggle will be ?
“Divest” worries me. If the project is dead, what’s to divest? Who to? Watch the money.
Congratulations are in order to all of the UK on the occasion of the recent pause in climate ignorance. Well done! Perhaps some of that well-meant but poorly targeted intent can be turned toward reducing the number of deaths to be expected this year from the previous multi-year energy mismanagement across the realm. I propose instituting warm houses where those who are likely greatest to suffer can have a place to go to escape the brutal cold of winter and a warm meal. That is adaption in case anyone’s not following the plot. It could become known as Britain’s finest hour.
Good idea. Although I do expect implementation will be impeded by the ‘elf & Safety mafia due to the dangers of moving cold people to and from the warm in icy conditions. Secondly the likelihood is that the council/government getting a whiff of this untaxed aid will either fore-go the winter fuel payments or class it as a taxable benefit to the pensioners concerned. In addition I suspect that the human rights groups will be all over the case for discrimination against warm people and particularly those from anywhere but the United Kingdom and most especially England. Lastly those of us fortunate to have passed the stone age and entering the digital age will fall under the provisions of the data protection act if we store any information on anyone who fits the selection criteria.
UKIP will be your only alternative.Don’t believe what the Lib/Lab/Dems tell you .
They will tell you Lies,until they are voted back in.