It looks like plans to build one of Europe’s largest wind farms on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, are to be turned down.  As one would imagine, local anti-wind farm campaigners are gleeful whilst supporters of the 181 turbine scheme feel embittered.  

I have mixed feelings; on the one hand I am all for harnessing the power of wind to produce energy. We need more energy and we’re not getting enough from fossil fuels. Having visited the Western Isles a couple of years ago, I can tell you, it is one of the windiest places I know!  

However, it is also one of the most beautiful and unspoilt and a big part of me recognises that that is its charm and uniqueness and it should be preserved. Whilst there, I felt like I had entered a very special community that welcomed me with open arms but was not trying to be anything other than what it was nor pander to my whims merely because I was a tourist, like some other holiday destinations. Where else can you go these days where the locals leave everything unlocked because there is no crime? Or you can walk mile upon mile on golden sandy beaches and not see another human being? I can’t help but disagree with Angus Campbell, vice-convener or Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (quoted or BBC News website): “……….Are we to become and environmental museum? Is any development at all to be allowed in the Western Isles?”

There are other parts of Britain, like Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Northumberland and Wales, for example, where ex-open cast mining sites used to be located. Surely they, or similar habitats, can be utilised? I don’t know but what I do know is that it would be a tragedy to do anything that would change the very fabric of the Hebrides – the jewel in the crown of the British Isles.

As if proof were needed that the world is on the brink of an energy crisis, look no further than South Africa! The country is rich in gems and precious metals and some of the world’s largest gold and platinum mining companies. This week they suspended production due to a ‘national emergency’ and spate of recent power cuts, which have ground business to a halt in many areas. 

Two things come to mind: firstly, thank goodness this is 2008 and not a bygone era! Mining company owners and bosses back then would have cared less about health & safety and minors being trapped underground by a power cut than they obviously do now! Drastic though it may seem, they took the right course of action shutting everything down. Secondly, if these companies are some of the world’s largest (and one would assume, richest) in their field, why do they not join forces and lobby the Government for more action on energy issues; including infrastructure construction and maintenance? Surely, above all these days, this is the one element that is an obstacle to a country’s economic growth. 

I love this quote from Goolam Ballim, chief economist of Standard Bank Group, based in South Africa: 

“Power is like Oxygen, it’s essential for any half-modern economy.” 

Absolutely! And protecting its source should be foremost in every business owner’s mind. 

For more information on power protection, visit: Riello UPS