Energiekontor had appealed against Scottish Borders Council's rejection of its eight-turbine Wull Muir scheme. However, a reporter said it "failed to respect" the character of the area and turned down the appeal.

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In a statement, the National Grid Electricity Systems Operator (ESO) said: "Unusually low wind output coinciding with a number of generator outages means the cushion of spare capacity we operate the system with has been reduced." It added that it was exploring measures to ensure that there was enough generation available to increase its capacity, and would update the market later on Wednesday evening.

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The pilot decided to fly the aircraft at 400 ft above the ground to provide clearance of 72 ft between it and the top of the turbine blades, which the pilot assessed to be a sufficient distance," the statement continued. "However, the aircraft was destroyed when it flew into a wind turbine which had a height of 413 ft above the ground."

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The protesters said they were concerned with the amount of peat that was being extracted, as peat is regarded as a valuable carbon sink and should not be disturbed to build a renewable energy project on.

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But what of wind turbines built on top of sensitive, natural environments – does low-carbon energy still help reduce emissions if it involves disturbing the kinds of habitats that are effective at trapping carbon and keeping it out of the atmosphere? This is an important question, but it is one that is too rarely being asked. In our recent study, we found that wind farms in Spain are being built on rare peat bogs that store vast quantities of planet-warming carbon. Because these habitats are so poorly mapped, there’s a good chance that this mistake is being replicated in many other places throughout Europe, including the UK.

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“Wind turbines have been very disruptive to the landscape where they've been allowed. They do not in any way match the character of the British landscape,” said Mark Sullivan, the Chairman of CPRE West Midlands, who has written to 25 MPs with local constituencies. He added that solar farms are an “insidious” presence. ...Mr Sullivan argues that the national CPRE does not reflect its membership’s view on the subject, and says if wind and solar farms return to the countryside “the long and costly fights against them will resume.”

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Councillor David Moore, admitted he was personally a “not a great lover” of wind energy and also warned the turbines would make those off the coast of Walney look like “babies”. He added: “I look forward to us developing that position statement and I think it’s one that will create a lot of interest and debate in Copeland.

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“Already, on windy days or days when the country’s demand is low, the electricity grid cannot cope with production from the wind farms already operating in Caithness and Sutherland. “This has led to eye-watering sums being paid to wind farm operators to turn off turbines – money that ultimately comes from all electricity customers.”

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But environmental concerns remain over Ørsted’s 231-turbine 2400MW Hornsea Project Three ...Sharma wrote that he was “not able to grant consent to the development at this time”, as the project presented an unacceptably high risk of collisions with the protected kittiwake bird in the EU-protected Flamborough and Filey coast special protection area.

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A bid had been lodged to add an extra 12 turbines to the 48 already operational on the site. However, the Scottish government has now rejected those as they would "magnify, intensify and extend" the impact of the current wind farm. The application to build the first phase was lodged in 2005, prompting a lengthy campaign against the project.

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Union says jobs bonanza for Scotland has been betrayed.

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More than 80 plants across England and Scotland were handed the so-called 'constraint payments', when supply outstrips demand, by National Grid, as thousands of buildings lying empty following the coronavirus lockdown contributed to a nosedive in demand for energy.

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Global growth in new renewable energy capacity will experience its first annual decline in 20 years this year amid the coronavirus pandemic but is expected to pick up next year, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. The world is set to build fewer wind turbines, solar plants and other installations that produce renewable electricity this year as energy demand has been reduced across commercial and industrial sectors and logistics issues delay projects.

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London-listed The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) said on Friday it has completed the acquisition of a 36% stake in a 396 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm in the German North Sea...TRIG also said it has exited from a Swedish onshore wind project being developed by Enercon due to construction delays.

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Communities have raised concerns about imminent plans to re-start work on a huge Scottish windfarm amidst a continuing coronavirus lockdown with imported Irish workers who they fear will not be tested.

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The MOD opposed the application for a time extension. Prior to bringing a petition for judicial review, the petitioner had engaged with the MOD to try and resolve the dispute by other means, but nothing had come of this. The petitioner was aware that their arguments were falling on deaf ears, had been aware of all relevant matters since at least May 2018, and judicial review had been in their contemplation since then. It had been inappropriate and unreasonable, having regard to the principle of good administration, to wait until the end of 2019 before raising proceedings.

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Today, wind farms are supplying around 32 per cent of the UK's electricity demand, producing more than 7,000 megawatts of power, however, the National Grid has noticed an oversupply of electricity during the lockdown. Homeowners are using more power domestically, but that is significantly less than the amount which would ordinarily be used by industry. National Grid has now warned that, on some days this summer, electricity demand may fall below the 'baseload' output from inflexible power plants, such as nuclear power reactors, which can take hours to shut down safely.

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Wind farm opposition groups across the north fear temporary changes in planning legislation will play into the hands of ‘unscrupulous developers’. Under the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act developers no longer have to mount public exhibitions of their plans, or make them available for physical inspection in places like libraries, services, and council offices due to the “significant risk of transmission of coronavirus”.

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Figures from the Scottish Government also revealed no new net capacity was added in the country between last June and December. Industry leaders have warned Scotland needs to quadruple its output if it is to wean its home heating and transport sectors off fossil fuels.

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Keltbray has demolished a giant wind turbine at Hunterston in Ayrshire.

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