I’m with Andrew Halcrow on this one

There is surely another way of interpreting Tony Erwood’s observations (Technology is advanced, SN, 2 May 2012)

Yes, the first grid-connected turbine in UK was sited in Orkney in 1951. The machine didn’t last very long as the chosen site was too turbulent.

However, wind mills were first recorded in Persia in 200BC and have gone through many stages of development since then. Perhaps all the more reason to expect that they should be approaching some state of reliability by now.

Unfortunately, a count of the number of turbines that have ‘gone down’ in Shetland since December 2011, let alone the rest of Scotland, will show that technology has not advanced sufficiently to guarantee reliability, and certainly not in Shetland’s environment.

I’m definitely with Andrew Halcrow on this one!

Mike Bennett
Sandsound