Daily Mail misreads most of its readers on energy generation that will keep their lights on

Professor John Robertson OBA

The ‘Scottish’ Daily Mail frontpage headline today is ‘ANGER AS SNP BACKS BIGGEST WIND FARM ON PLANET.’

I can’t help but think they may have misjudged their readers on this one – ‘What, we’ve got the biggest wind farm on the planet? BRILLIANT!‘

Where’s the supposed anger coming from? Well, Donald Trump and ‘conservation groups’, they say. There’s an unusual coalition. Doesn’t the Mail regularly bash such groups for ‘squeezing taxpayers’, obstructing ambulances and just dressing funny?

Not for the first time, you’re left to wonder what Mail readers would think if they got more information. Like this:

Scotland powers nearly half of UK’s wind energy milestone. Scotland’s wind farms are generating 48% of the UK’s 30GW wind power capacity, with new projects pushing this total higher. https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/08/30/scotland-powers-nearly-half-of-uks-wind-energy-milestone/

Net electricity transfers from Scotland to England [in 2023] increased 15 per cent to 6.0 TWh year-on-year, with transfers from Scotland to England increasing by 14 per cent to 6.1 TWh while transfers from England to Scotland decreased to 0.1 TWh. Net transfers from Scotland to Northern Ireland more than doubled to 0.5 TWh compared with Quarter 1 2023, which was mainly transfers from Scotland to Northern Ireland, with only a small amount of electricity transferred from Northern Ireland to Scotland. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a523860808eaf43b50d83d/ET_5.6_JUL_24.xlsx#:~:text=Net%20electricity%20transfers%20from%20Scotland,Scotland%20decreased%20to%200.1%20TWh.

The new wind farm will add 4.1 GWh to that.

15 thoughts on “Daily Mail misreads most of its readers on energy generation that will keep their lights on”

  1. Although the Daily Mail is the most baleful, the other virulently right wing papers like Telegraph, Express, Times and Scotsman have virtually the same headline and story, all clearly coming from the same source and taking a line from President Trump’s criticism of wind energy, when he arrived.

    The BBC, while not criticising the SNP in its report, highlights the fact that the consent was a decision by the Scottish Government or, rather the SNP Government. It then follows with significant coverage of objections by a number organisations like RSPB about the ‘slaughter of seabirds’. It also gives the Tories space to claim that renewables are not enough and that nuclear is required.

    Towards the end of the report there is a statement from Ed Milliband claiming and crowing, without any mention of the Scottish Government, that this project brings The UK Government’s target for renewables by 2030 ‘within touching distance’.

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    1. The ‘biggest’ problem for seabirds is bird flu and has already impacted their numbers quite badly. A few less Seagulls might not be such a bad thing though?
      Even if Scotland was wall to wall wind farms and powering all of England twice over, they would still say we should accept new costly dangerous as heck nuclear reactors in Scotland.

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    1. They may well be a Scottish registered company but according to this, they, along with OVO are both owned by Imagination Industries, which is wholly owned by billionaire Stephen Fitzpatrick. (or is that just their retail businesses?)

      https://weownit.org.uk/who-owns-our/energy#:~:text=bbc.co.uk-,Ovo%20Energy%20and%20SSE%20retail%20company%20(bought%20by%20Ovo%20Energy,owned%20by%20billionaire%20Stephen%20Fitzpatrick.&text=thisismoney.co.uk-,Owned%20by%20Spanish%20company%20Iberdrola%20%2D%20as%20of%202023%20its%20largest,is%20the%20Qatar%20Investment%20Authority.

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  3. If anyone has a “wind” problem, it would be the right wing Anglo-Britnat media and their puppet politicians–and yes, we can see the strings.

    gavinochiltree

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  4. Honestly that headline is ridiculous and just stupid. If it was the ‘biggest’ oil rigs on the planet we could understand their ire, but I think most people will just sigh at that pap on the front pages today.
    SNP are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, sigh. My only worry is it’s far too close to the border with England, they will want all the wind.

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      1. Yep, and so I can say to my friends and family in NE England, you subisdy junkies should be grateful and thank Scotland for your free leccy. (ps they really do believe the BritEngGovs’ lies that they subsidise Scotland).

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  6. ‘The ‘Scottish’ Daily Mail frontpage headline today is ‘ANGER AS SNP BACKS BIGGEST WIND FARM ON PLANET.’‘

    I suppose with a different decision we could have had this from the same newspaper: ‘Anger as SNP refuses to back biggest wind farm on planet – nationalists scupper project to supply lower cost electricity to boost England’s economy.’

    It is so blatantly obvious how the mainstream media has chosen to frame the announcement regarding Berwick Bank in a negative way.

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  9. Have a look at the opposition to wid farms in The Highlands.

    There is genuine concern about the areas industrialisation.

    Do any Talking Up Scotland readers live in The Highlands?

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