"Get over it, Mum!", exclaimed my millennial daughter, in response to my whinge about the wind farm on the western side of our farm. This wind farm has been in planning development for about the last fifteen years and under construction for the last three.
Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of greener, cleaner energy but I could not envisage the changes that a development like this ( I think over 100 turbines) would bring to our little piece of rural paradise; damaged local roads from the heavy trucks and infrastructure; the council passing the buck on road repairs and maintenance; the noise of heavy machinery for months on end (even weekends) and people. who were once good neighbours are now angry and resentful towards each other because some landowners are benefitting financially from this development and others are not.
We have no turbines on our land (thank heavens) but we are impacted by them. We will not be using their power as we are on off-grid solar power. I had no idea of the visual impact multiple two-hundred-metre towers would make to our landscape or how close some of them would be to us. Disappointingly they do emit noise (a bit like the low hum of an engine). Our environment has been altered, forever.
There is nothing we can do so we have to come to terms with our wind farm woes. Trying to be optimistic, I am now viewing them like a kinetic art installation. The turbines are quite mesmerizing when you look at them for a while. Maybe they will start appearing in my felt designs.
What are your thoughts on wind farms? Are they a good thing or not?
