Anti-windfarm campaigners are hoping to blow Alex Salmond’s political career off course with a mass protest against the SNP’s support for green technologies.
Scotland Against Spin campaigners will be making their views well and truly known about the proliferation of wind turbines across Scotland during the Nationalists’ conference in Perth next month.
The protest timed to coincide with the First Minister’s keynote speech to the party faithful will be noisy and colourful and will undoubtedly turn heads and grab headlines as the drive towards next year’s independence referendum vote hots up.
Despite onshore wind being a maturing sector in Scotland, detractors claim there is limited evidence of economic benefit.
They claim windfarms are a blight on the country’s landscape and could do more harm than good from an economic standpoint if the sight of giant windmills should serve to put tourists off.
They also rightly question the environmental credentials of some so-called green technologies such as biomass which burns wood fuel for energy.
But I seriously doubt it will make one iota of difference to Mr Salmond’s views on the subject, let alone bring about a sea-change in the SNP’s green policy.
The First Minister has been unshakeable in his support for renewables for years and believes the sector has the potential to launch a second industrial revolution, creating thousands of high-skilled and high-paid jobs in the process.
Significant new employment opportunities and the potential to produce power through sustainable means is a prize that Mr Salmond will not give up without a fight.
However, ultimately the SNP’s major problem in pursuing the renewables agenda may not be in deflecting the criticisms of a vocal few but in persuading the silent majority that progress towards a clean and green future is being made.
The sight of onshore wind arrays has become a familiar one in certain areas of Scotland, but headway remains slow in the more significant offshore sector.
Snail-paced it may be, but there is movement and the fact Scotland is set to provide a test bed for two of the world’s largest wind turbines one of which will be towering over the skyline of Fife before the year is out for two major international developers is a clear indication that the ball is now rolling.
There has been some progress, too, in the development of wave and tidal technologies.
Given the drive for renewable energy globally and the huge money at stake, the green energy juggernaut will gather momentum with or without Scotland on board.
The nation is in an enviable place right now dozens of countries would give their eye-teeth to be in the same position in the vanguard of green energy development and I for one do not wish to see that opportunity squandered.
We must remember that renewable energy is not new to Scotland.
Generations have enjoyed heat and light to their homes courtesy of hydro power schemes that were hugely controversial in their day.
Few would argue now that Scotland’s decision to embrace hydro power was wrong, and I suspect that in decades to come the debate which rages today over renewable power will similarly become a footnote in history.
The potential for future jobs and inward investment is too big to be derailed by protest however well intentioned at such a crucial juncture.
* The finalists in the Courier Business Awards really are an impressive bunch.
The 27 shortlisted firms represent all sectors of the economy, and visits to their individual operations have proven a real eye-opener for all involved in the judging.
There is much more to this group than meets the eye with vision, skill, drive and determination in abundance.
From those who built their companies from the ground up to established household names, it is obvious that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in east central Scotland and the region is open for business. That is a message we should carry with us at all times.