Like many others, I am one of those greenies who have been convinced that renewable energy is the answer to our fossil fuel dependent energy reliance.
Renewable energy is energy which comes from resources such as sunlight, wind, tides, and which can be naturally replenished.
Like many others, I am one of those greenies who have been convinced that renewable energy is the answer to our fossil fuel dependent energy reliance.
Renewable energy is energy which comes from resources such as sunlight, wind, tides, and which can be naturally replenished.
Wind energy, in the form of modern wind farms, is the fastest growth area within the renewable sector and has been touted by wind farm developers and supporters as the green answer to our energy crisis.
However, I have come to realise that we still have a long way to go in terms of research and development before renewable energies, and in particular wind energy, can stand their own ground as highly efficient and truly low environmental impact solutions to the global energy crisis.
Our government, partly in response to climate change and the commitment we have made to the Copenhagen Accord, wants the country to be less dependent on fossil fuels and have sustainable energy supplies.
As part of this process, tax incentives and opportunities have been opened up for investments in renewable energy.
However, the more one explores and researches the facts, the more issues seem to raise their heads. Is the quest for renewables justified when the areas chosen for sites threatens to despoil huge areas of wild and natural landscape, undermining local rural livelihoods who rely on eco-tourism, and even endangering rare bird and bat species?
That is the dilemma urgently facing the conservation and eco-tourism sector, with many wind farm planning applications now in the pipeline throughout the country, including six such applications in the Eastern Cape, in the environs of Jeffrey’s Bay, Southwell, Grahamstown, Bedford, Patterson and the Coega Development zone.
One has to question whether the real output of the wind farms will equal the risks to these areas of great landscape value.
Eco-, game- and nature-based tourism is the largest growth industry in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape. This industry employs tens of thousands of people from the poorest areas of this region.
Within the global biodiversity hotspot area of the Albany Region you can find over ten big five private and state owned games reserves, including the Great Fish River Reserve, world acclaimed Shamwari and international renowned Addo Elephant Park.
At least five wind farms are proposed for this region, and the negative impact on tourism could be devastating for rural livelihoods and the economy of the Eastern Cape.
I am sure that the many of thousands of international tourists, who come mainly from the UK and Europe, are not coming to experience our wild and unspoilt natural landscapes to see giant wind farms ring fencing their views of the horizon.
Wind farms have their place and should be an important cog of our new holistic energy package for our country, and most of us (myself included) are committed to generating energy by sustainable and ‘clean’ means.
But, surely sustainability must include minimisation of any collateral damage. With my conservation hat on, I am of the view that wind farms should be contained to development nodes, and already built up environments, where they are closer to the grid and can generate power at source.
One of the biggest issues faced by overseas wind generation has been the problem of energy transportation from wind farms to where it is needed.
For example placing a wind farm in the Coega development zone – as proposed makes a lot of sense. In addition, twinning wind farms together with desalination plants could contribute towards reducing our energy and water crisis in this region in one smart move.
While one cannot store wind power easily, you can store water in municipal and other storage dams. As the greatest impact of desalination plants is the vast amount of energy they consume, wind farms could certainly provide the solution.
Whatever your viewpoint, it would seem that wind power is here to stay – but there is an urgent need to minimise its negative impact.
I believe that a fair position to take would be that wind farms wherever possible should be located either in landscapes already containing a substantial built element, or in offshore areas out of sight of unspoilt coastlines.
In all cases they should be preceded by a strategic as well as an environmental impact assessment that takes full account of the value of what is likely to be lost, which includes the biodiversity economy;
landscape and wild vistas, not only the birds and animals that frequent them. We must come to the point where we accept that renewables need to be sourced in parallel to conserved and natural areas, and not in place of them.
Andrew Muir is the CEO of the Wilderness Foundation and Wilderness Leadership School.
