Written evidence submitted by Jim Leitch (RES0032)

Scottish Affairs Committee visit to Orkney June 2021

I am Jim Leitch I have a small farm in Evie, just below the wind turbines on Burgar Hill some of which are second and third generation and until recently were classed as experimental but now are production units. Prior to my retirement from the oil industry I was The Senior Health, Safety and Environmental Advisor to Total and Talisman operating at the Flotta Oil terminal. A few years ago I was asked to go to England and give a talk about the oil industry to about forty of its environmental inspectors, at first I struggled to find an appropriate lead in to my talk until I found an article similar to the position all countries find themselves in today with regard to the environment and people’s health. In late 1880 the city of Boston called a worldwide conference to address the pollution and serious health issues caused by horses (in Boston alone that year over six thousand people had died or were suffering from dry dung disease) I could go on forever on the subject but to make it brief London had approximately thirty thousand horses each producing Over six kilo’s of dung a day which stank and had to be removed from the city to the country. Horses were unregulated and when they died they were either left in the street or dumped in the Thames as there were no mechanical diggers to bury them. Children and adults died of related disease and malnutrition as most of the grain grown by the farmers was used to feed the horses to keep the industrial revolution going.

Hydrocarbon oil has been used by man over centuries, and late 1880’s a method of refining oil was found and petrol produced, followed by the invention of the motor car which was seen then as the environmental saviour of the world.

Now we need to change.

How many environmentalists and politicians churn out easily said words that are not so easy to implement. As your meeting progressed talking about zero carbon, I began studying  what clothes you were wearing, what tools you were using, (computers, sound systems) what you were sitting on and thought if we are to be totally hydrocarbon free, would I be looking at a body of naked people standing quietly talking to one another as carbons are in most things we wear, use and sit on even in our electric cars and wind turbine blades, then I thought you could wear woollen clothes and leather shoes but as the destruction of our farm industry is nigh  by a government spurred on by well meaning but ill informed environmentalists I returned to my naked vision.

I listened to a BBC interview with a woman advocating the use of electric cars and described her trip from Edinburgh to Inverness stopping off at Aviemore to recharge the cars battery. Killing time last week while my wife visited Raigmore hospital I counted in less than one hour over a thousand vehicles arriving in Inverness on the A9, I know that they all didn’t come from Edinburgh, but still how many chargers and how much electricity would be required to recharge their batteries even in the quiet highlands multiply that many times for major cities (Easy words not so easy in practice)

The challenge

Orkney is a group of islands reliant on farming, fishing and tourism to survive. The oil industry and the money generated by that industry has left Orkney with a substantial financial legacy and funded many things such as covering the cost in the 1980s of grid electricity to all in 

Orkney (most had previously used diesel generators) provided Orkney with electricity from its own private generators and ran gas to a Scottish hydro generator.

On the subject of gas when I was in the oil Industry gas was regarded as a hydrocarbon has its chemical structure changed to allow it to generate electricity and heat homes in a carbon neutral society?

As you introduced the subject of wind energy, I am going to respond before moving to marine renewable’s.

Trust in our government and councils has never been lower

Orkney at present has 836 wind turbines erected of varying sizes and only employs about 20 people, with most of the engineers and equipment coming up from south and Germany. Many people have solar panels fitted on their homes welcoming new technology. In 2017 the OIC brought in experts to look at area’s  where more wind turbines could be built producing a plan widely consulted and agreed by the people of Orkney, no sooner had that plan been agreed a wind energy company wanted to build on land not designated to be built on. The council changed the designation; plans were submitted to the council for approval one of which was turned down by the planners and one turned down by the planning committee. The meeting which had a major protest by the Orkney people outside the chamber nearly unheard of in Orkney. This protest was not about losing views as stated by the council representative giving evidence to you but looking at the implications on a county that relies on tourism and farming being turned into an industrial estate like Caithness with wind farms  only this time with wind turbines of 150 metres and infrastructure running all over Orkney. The wind energy company appealed to the Scottish government and permission was granted. In England the right to appeal against the reporters decision is free, In Scotland to appeal against the reporters decision cost a minimum of 26 thousand pounds not many groups can afford these costs.

Ofgem decided, that to warrant the cost of a very large export cable to the Scottish mainland there would have to be a minimum of 135 megawatt guaranteed production before  the cable would be installed, though they installed a cable with greater capacity last year and as no other wind farm companies interested the Orkney Islands council stepped in and without the permission of the people of Orkney or making a financial case to its own council, have moved to build their own wind farms proposing to use over 150 million pounds of the people of Orkneys money in what can only be seen as a very risky undertaking. The OIC bought an Island which is an SSI for breeding seals with emergency powers then changed the designation of land to build their own turbines, changed the allowable height of turbines to suit their own cause without asking the people. The OIC convenor voted for a massive substation in Finstown to be built against the advice of the OIC’s own planning chair who had found eight deviations from Orkneys planning regulations each one confirmed by the head of planning, therefore his vote went against his own regulations which the people of Orkney have to abide by, his own planning chair and head of planning. With regard to predicted cost and capital gained from the council’s project as presented to you, a member of the council did a presentation to Orkney Renewable Energy Forum of which I am a member. (A group which Gareth alluded to and who’s presentation I believe was not approved by them) and the group dismantled all the predicted figures presented to them. I asked the council to hold a referendum on their plans but so far have been ignored.

The council representative stated that most of the people of Orkney were in favour of wind turbines (how does he know as they have never asked) and that the council’ to show impartiality had submitted their own wind farm plans to the Scottish government, the reason they have done this is because they believe that their own planning committee would turn it down but as the Scottish government rarely turns any wind farms down the chance of success is greater with the Scottish government. Recently the Orkney Islands council gave permission for a further two wind turbines to be built at the Hammers hill wind farm in Evie, of which the council is a major share holder (So much for impartially), I was also concerned that Gareth and Neil talked so coldly about running a new massive cable up through Caithness and onto Orkney, are people’s views and the affect that these projects have on them just ignored by those seeking to make money, politicians and councillors wanting  to please their masters in Edinburgh or London.

Gareth spoke about the governments one size fits all this also goes for regulation with regard to blade flicker and noise, I don’t know where the regulators calculations were carried out with regard to blade flicker, but up here in the northern hemisphere the sun is very low in the winter and the blade flicker extends well beyond that stated in regulations and houses need to be at a greater distance.

Are SUV’s really required by people living in Edinburgh for the school run? It’s things like this we need to change as a start.

Scottish and southern Electricity owns many wind farms is the UK sole distribution provider with enforcement powers to erect infrastructure, and is the main seller of electricity to consumers.

How can this be?

Jobs and skills were discussed; I previously have challenged Neil’s potential and actual job figures written in EMEC’s reports, only to see them down downgraded by him, the ones given by to you are very optimistic in my opinion.

The people of Orkney have never been asked about or presented with the councils own overall wind farm plans including sub stations and infrastructure for Orkney.(We previously fought and won stopping SSE erecting pylons in Orkney)

The council representative talked about fuel property in Orkney failing to tell you that most of it occurs in council owned property with very expensive electric heating and in Orkney even in the summer let alone the long dark nights of winter we require heating and light.

Marine Renewable’s

I wish their representative was a member of our council, he was dynamic, had marine renewable’s and his country in his heart and a credit to his company.

In my opinion offshore wind and marine renewable’s are the way forward,h the  marine renewable’s requiring  financial or capacity support, but only for well thought out projects, many so far seem to be very  Heath Robinson made up of structures including domestic plumbing parts and you can see them littered around Orkneys yards and on the seabed. (How much has this cost so far) I wish that the marine renewable sector would somehow link with the offshore oil industry as they work in deep waters and have that expertise to hand to pass onto the marine renewable sector and also may involve itself in joint ventures as they will still have to power their platforms as we can’t do without hydrocarbons yet. Ring fence some of the extra grid capacity on the newly laid Orkney cable and if the device proves a success look at laying another cable but only for marine renewable’s.

The other thing that worries me as we go headlong into saving the planet, where is the chancellor’s very high income going to come from if we don’t have Oil, gas and petrol to sell?

Orkney is very small group of islands mainly heated by oil, coal and electricity, our oil is Scottish as is our electricity, since we shutdown our own coal mines our coal comes now is imported from Columbia,( very environmentally friendly). Looking at the vast scale of decarbonising a very small Orkney the cost and work involved in infrastructure required to change all the house heating to electric, provision of electric transport and required charging points having a gas or oil backup generation system for if there is no wind or a fault in the system, power to start the wind generators, changing planes, boats, public transport, farm machinery and heavy industrial plant to list a few to electric or hydrogen power the cost and disruption will be immense.

Better to change at a pace we can understand, afford and cope with but still get there, as I said (Easy words for politicians and environmentalists to say not so easy in practice)

Regards

Jim Leitch

Nothing to do with wind or tidal energy production, but to do with trust in politicians, councillors and their officials.

The OIC applied to the OIC for planning permission for a quarry to be extended, it was turned down by the OIC’s planning committee only to be appealed by officials without the knowledge of the councillors to the Scottish government’s reporter who is seen by many as an extension of the government carrying out its wishes.

The appeal has been upheld going again against our own elected planning committee and we now await the conformation of the OIC wind farms.

Is this a democratic country or a dictatorship?

June 2021