Inquiry to hear MOD wind farm fears

SPECIAL FEATURE by DOUG COLLIE

The Ministry of Defence will mount a strong challenge in a bid to prevent development of a 45-turbine wind farm in the Borders when a public inquiry into the highly controversial project gets underway in Hawick next month.

Expert witnesses will be called by counsel representing the Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace to demonstrate the potential harm the Faw Side wind farm could have on the so-called Eskdalemuir Array, the only seismic monitoring station in the United Kingdom. 

If allowed, the closest Faw Side turbine would be only four kilometres from the MOD establishment which traces underground nuclear tests as they occur up to 15,000 kilometres from Eskdalemuir.

The site for the largest wind farm ever to be proposed in the Scottish Borders would cover a vast area in both the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway council areas. The scheme has attracted a large number of objections which will be considered alongside the case for the applicants, by inquiry reporter Claire Milne.

CWL Energy Ltd. is promoting the Faw Side facility, and claim the impact on this largely unspoilt tract of countryside which includes hundreds of historic sites and monuments, would be minimal.

The MOD has set out its case in a 42-page written submission from the Ministry's agents, Edinburgh law firm Morton Fraser. The Secretary of State will be represented at the inquiry by Ruth Crawford QC.

The MOD 'Statement of Case'  claims the wind farm "will have a significant and detrimental impact on the operation and capability of the Eskdalemuir Seismological Recording Station ("the Array"). This aspect of the MOD objection is based on the MOD's position that the proposed development would cause the Eskdalemuir threshold (also known as the Eskdalemuir noise budget and referred to in this Statement of Case as "the Eskdalemuir threshold") to be exceeded; and (b) it is premature having regard to the work currently being undertaken by the Eskdalemuir Working Group ("EWG"), which will inform both the Scottish Government and the MOD's future policy and approach to the safeguarding of the Array."

In respect of the Ministry's objection, the MOD understands the Applicant's position to be wholly based upon a technical report which it commissioned from Heriot Watt University.

"The report concludes that there is more than sufficient headroom (i.e., capacity) within the Eskdalemuir threshold so as to permit the construction of the proposed development without compromising the detection capabilities of the Array. On that basis, it is understood that the Applicant considers that the impacts of the proposed development upon the Array are acceptable. MOD does not accept this as a proposition."

At the first session of the inquiry at Hawick's Mansfield House Hotel, the MOD intends to lead three witnesses in support of its case: Steve Laws, Assistant Head, Nuclear Threat Reduction, Defence Nuclear Organisation, MOD; Desmond Egan, Assistant Head of Estates, Safeguarding, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and Dr David Bowers, Seismologist, AWE Blacknest.

The MOD submission states: "The [Eskdalemuir] Array is the UK's primary asset for monitoring underground nuclear tests, and therefore must be protected. Further, the United Kingdom is a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (“CTBT”) which bans nuclear test explosions. The CTBT was ratified by the UK on 6 April 1998. Under the CTBT, the MOD is designated the ‘National Authority’ for the purposes of securing the UK’s compliance with the terms of the CTBT.

"As part of its obligations under the CTBT, the MOD is required to keep in place seismic equipment which monitors and detects nuclear-test explosions as part of the International Monitoring System (“IMS”) network under the CTBT. The IMS network is part of the CTBT verification regime and will consist of 321 monitoring stations, of which the Array is one. The Array is the only one in the UK."

If the MOD failed to safeguard properly the Array and protect it from interference as a result of wind farm development, the UK would be in breach of this international obligation to protect global peace and security.

"The installation of wind turbines in the vicinity of the Array which could unacceptably compromise the detection capabilities of the Array itself would effectively remove the only monitoring site in the UK from the overall IMS. This would be interpreted internationally as the UK distancing itself from its CTBT obligations and its NPT disarmament obligations in particular. The UK’s reputation as a responsible Nuclear Weapon State would be undermined. Further, the UK’s commitment to the CTBT and NPT would be brought into question. More broadly, the UK’s ability to deter and monitor nuclear weapons development around the world, and ultimately to limit nuclear proliferation, would be undermined."

And the submission adds: "Since it started operations in 1962, the Array has detected approximately 645 P-wave signals associated with (presumed) underground nuclear test-explosions occurring up to 15,000 km from the Array. The Array has detected P waves from many smaller underground chemical explosions, for example an announced chemical explosion equivalent to 100 tons of TNT detonated in Kazakhstan during August 1998. The Array has detected P waves from all six nuclear tests announced by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since 2006."

The proposed development would consist of 45 wind turbines, with an installed capacity of 315 megawatts. The proposed turbines are located between approximately 10km and approximately 16km from the Array Station Location, with the closest turbine being approximately 4km from seismometer R10.

"The Applicant appears to accept that the detection capabilities of the Array must not be compromised by the construction of wind turbine proposals. The Applicant's position is that the proposed development can be accommodated within the existing Eskdalemuir threshold and without the threshold being breached. 

"The Applicant has not produced any forensically sound seismological evidence which can be accepted by MOD to demonstrate that such a proposition is well founded. MOD's position is that the Eskdalemuir threshold is presently exhausted, it having been exhausted in 2018 by the present application. The MOD's position is that the proposed development cannot presently be accommodated within the Eskdalemuir threshold. MOD must therefore maintain its objection."

According to the MOD The Applicant has produced no evidence as to the seismological impact the 45 turbines would have upon the detection capacities of the Array, at the Array itself. It is the MOD's position that the construction of this number of turbines in such proximity to the Array will exceed any additional capacity which may exist in the Eskdalemuir threshold at the present time.

MOD warns the effectiveness of the Array might be unwittingly compromised by a number of consents being issued in a short space of time. There is no formal oversight of the cumulative impacts other than by the MOD. The Array is a major but necessary constraint on additional wind farm development in the consultation zone. The proposed FSWF is simply too large and too close to the Array for it to be constructed without unacceptably compromising the effectiveness and detection capabilities of the Array. The MOD cannot allow such a situation to occur.

"The MOD maintains its objection to the proposed Faw Side Wind Farm development. This is because the proposed development will unacceptably compromise the detection capabilities of the Array. The MOD's objection on this basis should be given considerable weight."