OPPONENTS of sustainable technologies frequently use this letters page to object to renewable energy schemes that are proposed for Pembrokeshire.

They complain about the visual intrusion of wind turbines, solar PV etc.

and about all the profits going to the people who to develop such schemes.

Firstly, it is naïve to expect landowners or farmers to invest considerable amounts of money in a project of any kind which won’t make them money. Secondly, West Wales residents can benefit from renewable energy schemes in various ways, even if they don’t work for the companies which install and maintain them: - Landowners have to pay business rates on larger wind turbines and solar PV arrays, thus ambitious renewable energy schemes can make significant contributions to local authority coffers, to the benefit of all citizens.

- In the case of onshore wind, developers are obliged to pay into community benefit funds: newly-approved projects must donate £5,000 a year for every megawatt of generating capacity installed, and this money all goes to support initiatives which benefit the community – initiatives which are chosen by local people, depending on their local needs.

- Now, local people have another means by which they can benefit from local renewable electricity generating schemes. On 3rd November, the UK’s renewable energy industry launched a new initiative, which will give local communities the opportunity to invest in local renewable energy projects such as onshore wind farms, as well as solar and hydro power: developers of these schemes will at an early stage start to consult with local people, asking if they would be interested in community ownership.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said, “By giving communities the opportunity to buy into- and benefit from renewable energy developments in their area, they can play their part in generating power at a local level which could supply enough electricity for 1 million homes by 2020.”

We very much hope that the people of West Wales will take to the idea of investing in local renewable energy schemes: while they benefit financially, their children’s and grandchildren’s futures should be made more secure.

What’s more, surely most people would rather look at a wind farm benignly, thinking of the income it was generating for them, than see their money going into new nuclear power stations: hasn’t Fukushima given us all the warning we ever needed?

ELEANOR CLEGG

Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth