Offshore wind farm Trump tried to kill generates first power

File under S for schadenfreude – or whatever the Scottish equivalent is: The UK offshore wind farm Donald Trump tried to have scrapped has begun generating renewable power, off the coast of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Swedish project developer Vattenfall said on Monday that the 11 turbine, 93.2MW project – called the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) – starting sending power to Scotland’s national grid for the first time on Sunday.

Once fully commissioned, it is expected to produce the equivalent of more than 70 per cent of Aberdeen’s domestic electricity demand, sent ashore via 21km of undersea cabling connected to a substation at Blackdog.

As we reported here in late 2015 – back when President Trump was still just a figment of his own imagination – the wind farm was fiercely opposed by the Donald, for reasons mostly to do with money and golf.

That is, Trump maintained that the wind farm would ruin the view of a luxury golf course he owns nearby, and thereby damage its profitability.

Not moved by this argument, the Scottish government approved plans for the wind farm in 2013. And when Trump took the decision to court, three times – twice in Scotland and once in Britain’s Supreme Court – his case was defeated each time.

EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS
EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

“This is an extremely unfortunate verdict for the residents of Aberdeen and anyone who cares about Scotland’s economic future,” the Trump Organisation told the BBC at the time.

“History will judge those involved unfavourably and the outcome demonstrates the foolish, small-minded and parochial mentality which dominates the current Scottish government’s dangerous experiment with wind energy.”

But as dangerous experiments go, the EOWDC seems to be doing rather well – even after being delayed by lengthy legal battles.

The Scottish government is pretty pleased. Energy minister, Paul Wheelhouse, has personally congratulated the Vattenfall team for both the successful installation, and for its use of the world’s most powerful offshore wind turbines which, with each rotation at full power, can power a home for 24 hours.

“Once the test and demonstration site is fully operational, not only will this help the offshore wind sector to further reduce its costs through lessons learned during operations, but the output from EOWDC will itself add significantly to Scotland’s renewable electricity generating capacity,” Wheelhouse said.

It would also, he added, build on figures announced last month that showed installed capacity reached a record 10.4GW in the first three months of 2018, “and which also provisionally indicated that renewable sources met an equivalent of 69 per cent of Scotland’s electricity demand in 2017.”

Comments

17 responses to “Offshore wind farm Trump tried to kill generates first power”

  1. GlennM Avatar
    GlennM

    Great,
    perhaps it will stop him going to his golf course, a win for everyone.

  2. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    The closest translation of ‘schadenfreude’ that I could find ( google translate ) was ‘mire’ but I don’t think that is really the translation. Yes the Donnie boyo has been caught up in the mire ,indeed, of his golf course. I once saw a documentary on SBS TV ( damn, can’t remember the name of it now ) about the whole business of Donnie and his beloved little golf course there in Scotland. From the start to the finish of building the thing it once again showed what a proper bastard the dude is. The local people, the local environment, the local laws all royally f…ed over by the Donnie. What does he call it again…collateral damage…all for his own private good. One day a local will take their bulldozer for a bit of a drive all over Donnie’s little golf course…restoration of the natural environment!

    1. Rod Avatar
      Rod

      “You’ve been Trumped.”

      1. phred01 Avatar
        phred01

        yes donny is climate denier but is building a sea retaining wall to protect his golf course from rising sea levels

        1. Joe Avatar
          Joe

          The next megastorm to hit Scotland needs to land a…Donnie brook ( direct hit ) on the golf course.

      2. Joe Avatar
        Joe

        Hello Rod, thank you. This is the documentary that I was referring to. I can recommend a watch by all that come across this.

      3. rob Avatar
        rob

        Rod , what a gentleman you are for posting this, as I wrote to joe I’m only half way through watch this fab video and I’m in tears

        1. Ian Porter Avatar
          Ian Porter

          +1

    2. rob Avatar
      rob

      joe I’m only half way through watching this and am in tears!

      1. Joe Avatar
        Joe

        Hi Rob. Yep it really does hit the soul. This is what Trump does to people. Wherever he has gone, whatever he has touched, a trail of devastation of lives. Atlantic City, New Jersey USA is another scene of Trumpism at the ‘top of his game’. Why are people so surprised at the behaviour and actions of Trump now that he sits in The Big Chair. He has been doing this kind of stuff for ages. The shock is that such a monstrous individual could ever land in The White House and dish out his ‘special treatment’ upon the country and world. Like other ‘monsters’ that have led countries in the past, we will look back and wonder…how was it possible, how could it happen, how did we tolerate it…..Trump as POTUS.

    3. rob Avatar
      rob

      Share it to Hettie…….she will bite his head off!

      1. Joe Avatar
        Joe

        Hi Rob, thanks for the suggestion. I’ve done just that.

  3. Peter F Avatar
    Peter F

    I think I read somewhere that due to the delays they were able to use much bigger turbines to really annoy him

  4. IT67 Avatar
    IT67

    Update from Scotland (me)…….

    A rough translation – in meaning, if not quite literally – for ‘schadenfreude’ is definitely:

    ‘Get it right up ye’

    Usually said in a manner that leaves absolutely no room for misinterpretation 😛

    1. Nick Kemp Avatar
      Nick Kemp

      The Scots should paint the blades in a nice lurid tartan like those children’s whirligig things. That can be your job seeing as your’e nearby

  5. Nick Kemp Avatar
    Nick Kemp

    ““History will judge those involved unfavourably and the outcome demonstrates the foolish, small-minded and parochial mentality”

    Well he at least got that bit right assuming he meant himself

  6. IT67 Avatar
    IT67

    Going to add a little bit of late update to this article. ‘The Donald’ was asked to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament about this in 2012:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-20463092/donald-trump-tells-msps-i-am-the-evidence

    He was (quite literally) laughed out of the place. Planning permission was granted 😛

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