Nov 27 - International Herald Tribune

On the Isle of Lewis, a blustery wedge of highland and bog at the northern tip of the Outer Scottish Hebrides, a battle over a planned wind farm holds lessons for investors and industrialists seeking to meet alternative energy targets for Europe.

The island's 859 square miles, or 2,225 square kilometers, are home to about 20,000 people and 12 protected bird species that include black-throated divers, golden plovers and white-tailed sea eagles. Under plans submitted in 2004 by Lewis Wind Power, a joint venture between British Energy Group and the energy engineering services company Amec, it would also become home to one of the world's biggest wind farms.

A rambling complex of 181 turbines, connecting cables and support facilities, the proposed farm could contribute the equivalent of 6 percent of the British renewable energy target for 2010: And follow- up proposals for a further 64 turbines could turn Lewis and neighboring islands into a major power-generating hub.

Despite fierce opposition from local campaigners, the project received approval from the local authority, the Western Isles Council, early in 2007.

But in a surprising reversal, the Scottish government rejected the project in April this year on the ground that enough planning applications already existed to meet Scottish renewable energy targets and that the project would do serious damage to peat marshes that are designated as a Special Protection Area under European Union bird and habitat directives.

The government is now compiling a study of renewable energy resources in the Western Isles, to be published early next year. The study aims to clarify the role of renewable energy in sustaining Scottish economic growth and what else Scotland needs to do to achieve its target of supplying 50 percent of its gross electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2020.

Lewis Wind Power, meanwhile, is drafting another proposal to put forward after the study is published.

The company "believes that the government's assessment of the scheme is flawed," said David Hodkinson, a project manager. In addition to the energy benefits, "the proposals would have enhanced tourism" on the island, he said. "Currently there are a very limited number of hotels on Lewis, which are reliant on a very short tourist season. The wind farm would have potentially helped create a more sustainable tourist industry."

The British Wind Energy Association say that a more robust planning policy is needed if Britain is to meet its 2010 renewable energy targets. The average time for applications to be processed is now 11 months, despite government guidelines stating that major proposals should be decided within 16 weeks.

So far this year, Britain has seen 32 proposals refused, 50 approved and 24 built, according to the association. Even after approval, energy companies have to overcome multiple barriers including turbine-order backlogs, compliance with British aviation radar regulations, and connection to the national electricity grid. These can stretch construction and commissioning delays up to two years for large wind farms, the association said.

The global wind market is growing fast: from $30.1 billion in revenues last year, it is likely to reach $83.4 billion in 2017, according to a report published this year by the research firm Clean Edge, based in San Francisco. But as the industry grows, so does opposition from local communities and environmentalists.

The Lewis project is a case in point. Nearly 11,000 Scots signed a petition against it, arguing that the proposal would have created a development zone of turbines, roads, quarries, transmission lines and other forms of infrastructure stretching almost continuously for 40 miles, or 65 kilometers across the Lewis moorland, threatening internationally recognized populations of protected species and peat lands.

Martin Scott, the Western Isles officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said areas of natural beauty should not be destroyed in the name of cutting carbon emissions.

"Developers seem to be going for remoter areas where there are less people," Scott said. "Obviously, if they were built near to big cities, there would be far more complaints." A wind farm on the Smola Islands, off the coast of Norway, kills four or five white- tailed eagles every year, a potentially devastating toll considering their "incredibly slow rate of reproduction," he warned.

On Lewis, bird-watching is one of the major attractions for the thousands of visitors who come to the island every year.

According to Moorland Without Turbines, a local protest group, 143,402 recreational visitors came to the Western Isles in 2006 - the equivalent of five times the permanent population - supporting around 1,000 jobs and injecting more than pound(s)36 million, or $54 million, to the islands' economy.

But Hodkinson, the project manager, said that "recent Scottish government-commissioned research demonstrated that there is minimal impact on tourism from on-shore wind farms."

"The number of visits to the island would have increased due to the construction and maintenance of the wind farm," he said.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Tourist Board, also known as VisitScotland, says it supports the drive for renewable energy and recognizes the potential of Scotland's vast resources. Still, the increasing number of planning applications worries some board members.

"VisitScotland is becoming increasingly concerned over the proliferation of speculative development proposals, many of them in areas of high landscape or scenic value or in locations which directly impact on tourism," it said.

Neil MaCauthur, owner of the Eshcol Guest House on Lewis said the islanders "are generally split down the middle" on the issue.

"There is no doubt that wind farms would boost the island's economy, but whether there is a spin-off effect on the tourism industry is unknown," he said. "It really is an unknown quantity."

Still, wind industry advocates argue that sacrifices must be made if countries are to meet government targets on reduced carbon emissions - in Britain the European Union target is to supply 15 percent of total energy demand with renewable sources by 2020 - and help fight global warming. According to Greenpeace, Britain generates 5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

Ditlev Engel, the chief executive of Vestas Wind Systems, the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, expresses deep concern about the lack of energy resources to serve adequately the needs and expectations of a growing global population.

"If people don't want turbines in their own back yard, we should be asking people what we should do instead," he said. "Would you prefer that we build a new coal plant?"

The question will not go away: For now, the eagles still soar over Lewis, to the relief of many islanders and environmentalists.

"The government has made it clear, in repeated statements on this issue, that renewables must be delivered, but not at any price," the bird protection society said.

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

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