FAQ

There will be 91 turbines, each 340m high and 280m wide (or up to 144 turbines at 260m tall) covering 448 km² of our coastal waters. The area covered by this development will be over 50% of the landmass of Mull, 64% of the landmass of Islay, 10 times the size of Colonsay and 51 times the size of Iona.

MachairWind is just 6 miles from Colonsay, 10 miles from Islay and under 13 miles from Iona and Mull. It will be highly visible from Islay, Jura, Colonsay, Iona, Mull, Tiree, Staffa and the Treshnish Islands in the Inner Hebrides.

The site was chosen by ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) from 20 sites identified because of “ease of development”.

Red flashing lights on top of each turbine will make the array highly visible and destroy our dark-sky environment.

The construction of the MachairWind turbines will cause extensive disruption to the seabed.  Above the water turbine blades will rotate at circa 250mph.  Combined, these are proven to threaten bird and fish migratory pathways, marine mammal habitats and behaviour, and the health and ecology of the seabed. The National Trust of Scotland who own Iona, Staffa and the Treshnish Isles are objecting to MachairWind's development proposal.

MachairWind will have a negative socio-economic impact on the so-called “host” communities of Islay, Jura, Colonsay, Iona and the Ross of Mull. It will also affect the rest of Mull and other surrounding islands.  Islay, Colonsay, and Iona Community Councils have confirmed they are objecting to MachairWind.  ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has also confirmed that any socio-economic assessment (such as impact on tourism businesses) will not include input from island residents, businesses or visitors.

This wind farm will not provide cheaper or greener power to the island communities impacted by its construction and operation. Much of the energy produced will be landed in Wales (which itself over-produces electricity) for export to the rest of the UK and beyond.

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has stated that it will not give any indication of community benefit levels until consent is granted (by which time it will be too late to object).  SPR is owned by the Iberdrola (a Spanish energy giant), with all profits from the proposed wind farm being channelled to their shareholders.

Scotland is already a net exporter of electricity, generating nearly twice as much as it can consume annually.  A very high percentage of energy currently generated in Scotland is being "constrained" due to lack of grid infrastructure to distribute it to the areas where it is needed.  Consumers are already paying over £350m to cover costs for energy companies to turn off their turbines and a further £1.1 billion for gas fired power stations to produce the electricity to meet demand from the rest of the UK every year.  We must not sacrifice our most precious landscapes to energy production which is not needed.