This document prepared by Gamesa contains the specifications for building access roads to service the wind facility as well as the platform areas where each turbine will be sited. Wind developers often cite in their marketing literature that access roads will be 16-feet in width following construction. According to the document, the minimum width of an access road between wind turbines must be 10 meters (33-feet). This width does not include side slopes or additional clearing for culverts.

A CASE IN POINT: THE VALENCIAN WINDPOWER PLAN

"The Valencian windpower plan ("Plan Eólico") was approved July 26th, 2001. It calls for the implantation of 2700 wind turbines in the Comunidad Valenciana, many of them in the mountains of the Costa Blanca.

After two years of negotiations behind closed doors, the pieces of the subsidized pie have been allocated. Soon the bulldozers will start destroying the ultimate asset of this region: its unspoiled interior. See the narrow valleys, smell the orange blossom, marvel at the olive groves: they will never be the same. Neither will the craggy mountains, warm shades of amber in the winter sun. All of this will go, marred by industrial structures. The almond trees will bloom under ugly pylons, and we´ll view the cherry blossoms against a backdrop of rotors and power lines."

The aim is to show that the fuel economy and emissions reduction in the power systems consisting mainly of thermal power plants are not proportional with the electricity production of wind turbines. Participation of thermal power plants in the compensation of fluctuating production of windmills eliminates major part of the expected positive effect of wind energy. A method for calculation of real fuel economy and emissions reduction is described and a calculation example basing on Estonian and Danish data is given.

Editor's Note: A worthwhile read in its entirely (attached pdf file). Selected extracts appear below.

This short report discusses the impact of insect debris build-up on turbine blades and the resulting reduction in performance. Questions remain regarding how the blades are cleaned, whether detergents or chemicals are used in cleaning, the source of water to be used during the process, and whether the waste water is treated.

Issued on September 1, 1998 by The Initiative Group and signed by more than 100 German University professors, the Darmstadt Manifesto On the Exploitation of Wind Energy in Germany demands the withdrawal of all direct and indirect subsidies in order to put a stop to the exploitation of wind energy.

The manifesto claims that the exploitation of wind energy promotes the type of technology which is of no significance whatever for the purpose of supplying energy, saving resources and protecting the climate. The money could be put to far more effective use in increasing the efficiency of power stations, in ensuring effective energy consumption and in funding scientific research into fundamental principles in the field of energy.

The Darmstadt Manifesto is directed in particular at politicians, environmental organisations and the media.