St Andrews University says its proposals for a six-turbine windfarm at Kenly, near Boarhills, are ”vital” to its future and its ability to protect the jobs of staff at the university and elsewhere in Fife.
Speaking on the eve of today’s meeting at which Fife Council will consider the Kenly application after what the university describes as ”months of dithering” by council officers the university said Kenly is an integral part of its strategic response to the threat of constantly spiralling external energy costs.
A spokesman said: ”Rising external energy costs mean our energy bills have increased five-fold in recent years from less than £1 million a year to over £5 million a year. It is not that we are using more we simply have to pay more for the same amount of electricity. There are many families who will be familiar with that predicament.
”The extra funds we have had to find to pay our energy bills over the last few years would have allowed us to employ an additional 50 full-time staff. If prices continue to rise as they have done in the recent past, it will cost the university the ability to fund 10 full-time posts every year.
”These are not idle figures they affect real jobs and real people. Unless we can take control of our own energy needs, jobs will be under threat, along with our ability to continue to be a key economic driver for Fife and Scotland.
”At present we generate over £300 million for the economy and support over 9,000 jobs in St Andrews, elsewhere in Fife and further afield. If we are prevented from implementing our strategy to become self-sustaining in energy, those numbers can only dwindle.”
The spokesman firmly dismissed claims by the Kenly Landscape Protection Group that the university ”stands to make £96 million from the windfarm.” The KLPG had also publicly asked what ”was in it for Fifers” from the Kenly development.See Thursday’s Courier for full coverage of the council’s decision”This claim is, regrettably, fantasy with no basis in fact,” the university spokesman said. ”We have said repeatedly from the very beginning that the power we generate at Kenly will be used by us in St Andrews to support world-leading research in our science and medical facilities on the North Haugh. This is not a profit-making venture and we have been crystal clear about this from outset.
”What’s in it for Fifers? It could not be clearer: new jobs from the development itself, the protection of existing employment and a much more sustainable means of generating and using clean energy locally. Perhaps local jobs don’t matter to the KLPG?
”The KLPG is, of course, entitled to its views and we respect its position but it does not represent the majority opinion in these communities and it is a great pity that it has so often sought to misrepresent the facts.”
The spokesman said the university’s own surveys of local opinion at community meetings in Kingsbarns and Boarhills had indicated a much more considered view of wind and renewable technologies.
The surveys were carried out at public meetings where, the university said, it might reasonably have been expected that many people would have attended because they were concerned or opposed to the Kenly plans.
The university said the surveys revealed that:
Over 46% of people were either supportive or strongly supportive of the planned windfarm 48% thought Kenly was an acceptable location for a windfarm Approximately 36% were unsupportive or strongly unsupportive Approximately 12% were neither supportive nor resistant 60% believed a community benefit scheme was a good idea.
The spokesman added: ”It is important to note there are no objections from statutory consultees to this development.”