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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pratincol" data-source="post: 3318281" data-attributes="member: 65801">Announcements have just been made about the construction of the largest offshore wind farm off Walney Island in the Irish Sea.It is already enormous: they are merely adding another section.This is a major migration route for birds,down the west coast.It is well monitored as South Walney is a bird observatory.I don't know what the effect it is having on birds though.If you have a chance read Barred Wobbler's illuminating posts in the forum within the Conservation forum.[Wind Farms 400 extra Turbines]You will learn an awful lot about the efficiency[or to be more accurate,the inefficiency] and astonishing land coverage of wind farms compared with conventional thermal power stations.Just to replace one conventional power station apparently uses up 300 square miles of land with wind turbines!They are in the middle of constructing the largest solar power station in the world near Ourzarzate Morocco.In order to produce the same amount of power as a large conventional power station they will use as much land as the Moroccan capital city,Rabat.This will power one million homes allegedly, but the actual figure will no doubt be less than this. This is a ridiculous equation:to power a large city you have to use as much land as the said city!It used to be a wild rugged landscape but sadly no longer.It is advertised as being on the edge of the Sahara Desert but in actual fact it is right next to Ourzazate.This town was a major stopover point for tourists exploring south east Morocco.What they will make of an industrial development the size of a city,I'm not sure.I will certainly not be going back there again.I am beginning to feel the same about Scotland.After two visits this year, to two separate areas, my abiding memory is seeing hundreds of huge turbines and massive electricity pylons marching through the once beautiful landscapes..Not quite the impression you might get when you think about the bonny lochs and glens!So constructing windfarms and solar panels might be the answer but the question is:will there be enough land to build them on?</blockquote>

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