Wind farms are not only beautiful, they're absolutely necessary

Turbines are vital in the fight against climate change. That is why I've applied for four of them, says Simon Gourlay

Simon Gourlay
The Guardian,
Tuesday August 12 2008

Michael Berkeley is clearly a man with a mission - to save beautiful British countryside from desecration by wind turbines. Hence his article asserts that "we owe it to our children's children to preserve it" (A blot of turbines, July 28).
Because I have on many occasions publicly acknowledged that I live in beautiful countryside, the fact that I have "put together a new application to Herefordshire for four turbines" in the Welsh Marches makes me, in Berkeley's eyes, the ultimate vandal.
He has other problems with wind energy - "the incomprehensibly vast subsidies available". Berkeley is, like me, a farmer and thus will know a great deal about generous direct government subsidy. But for wind turbines there is no equivalent. There is only the same support as for all renewables, which is in the form of renewables obligation certificates that are funded by a small surcharge on everyone's energy bills - currently around 0.35p/kWh.
Another problem is "the near negligible gain" from wind turbines. Unlike some of his fellow travellers, Berkeley is no climate change denier. Indeed he now drives a hybrid car and has a wood-burning stove: both very laudable actions. It is absolutely crucial that we all do what we can. And in my case one thing I can do is to combine with other local farmers to produce the electricity to supply around 6,000 homes.
But visual impact is clearly Berkeley's main concern. For some, wherever turbines are built will always be inappropriate. The fact that since I first saw them in Cornwall some 15 years ago I have found them beautiful is neither here nor there - but it is relevant that repeated opinion surveys have shown that more than 70% of people in this country either like or do not mind the visual impact (though I am aware that some of the minority dislike them intensely).
When an application for 12 turbines overlooking Ardrossan, a small seaside town on the west coast of Scotland, was submitted, understandably there was considerable concern. Yet a year after it was commissioned, one of the town's councillors wrote: "The Ardrossan wind farm has been overwhelmingly accepted by local people - instead of spoiling the landscape, we believe it has been enhanced. The turbines are impressive looking, bring a calming effect to the town and, contrary to the belief that they would be noisy, we have found them to be silent workhorses."
The legacy we leave our children's children is something I care about passionately, but my priorities are at variance with Berkeley's. I believe that unless humankind does all it possibly can, as soon as it possibly can, the tipping point will be passed and climate change - probably within the lifetime of our children's children - will be catastrophic. But if humankind mends its ways and finds other forms of renewable energy, at the end of the 25-year life of a wind farm the turbines can be taken down and the countryside will be indistinguishable from how it is now.
· Simon Gourlay runs a family farm on the Welsh border and was president of the National Farmers Union, 1986-91 simon@maryvalefarms.co.uk