I quipped a few years back to Jim Gordon (president of Cape Wind Associates) that he'd never get the project built until Ted Kennedy and Walter Cronkite died. I was somewhat embarrassed when the following year, they both obliged.I suggested the same remedy for the Kennedy family, due to their opposition to the Cape Wind project. They eventually lost.
Ow. That's not good. Peat should not be significantly disturbed, as it takes thousands and millions of years to develop. Of course, more damage has been caused by draining peatlands outright than by construction in them. But when they say "many" wind farms are built on peatlands, that must be Scotland-specific; putting wind turbines on peat is not something you'd do anywhere which has any solid ground.
Interesting -- this aligns well with a study of the Danish system I read a while back, which concluded that a 2x overbuild would be needed. The difference in numbers would be easily explained by the greater wind diversity in the Midwest vs. Denmark. Studies like this are always critically dependent on the assumed cost of storage and health costs. The role of active demand response seems to have been relegated an emergency back-up plan, too.
