SNP/Greens accused of 'environmental madness' as wind turbines found to be running on diesel fuel

A whistleblower has revealed that Scotland's wind turbines ran on fossil fuels for up to six hours a day, adding to the anger over the Scottish Government's environmental credentials

The SNP and Greens are being held responsible for a damning incident that led to fossil fuels being used to run a number of wind turbines in Scotland.

Despite the environmentally friendly credentials of turbines being lorded by ministers, ScottishPower has admitted that 71 have been linked up to generators burning diesel fuel.

The power company said they were forced to step in due to a fault on the national grid during the freezing spell in December but political opposition has slammed the Scottish Government for being untrustworthy with their environmental policies.

Labour MSP Colin Smyth said the scenario is further evidence of the SNP and Green Party's "dishonesty" over Scotland's renewable potential after they came under fire for using data they knew to be inaccurate. Ministers were slated for incorrectly stating that Scotland possessed 25 per cent of Europe's wind energy potential.

On top of this not being true, the recent revelation found 60 turbines at Arecleoch Wind Farm in South Ayrshire and 11 at the nearby Glen App Wind Farm were connected to six huge diesel generators.

Mr Smyth said: "The SNP and Greens have proven time and time again they cannot be trusted on environmental issues.

"They laud Scotland's potential for renewables yet don't appear to ensure those already in existence are properly run. This isn't the first problem raised - and there is concern at a lack of openness when problems arise.

"Whatever the reasons, having to use diesel generators to deice faulty turbines is environmental madness. This level of dishonesty cuts to the very core of the SNP and Green Government where their rhetoric on net zero is very different from the reality."

The wind farms are operated by ScottishPower Renewables, a subsidiary of the Spanish-based company Iberdrola, which operates 1,183 onshore turbines capable of producing enough electricity to power two million homes.

The use of diesel generators was revealed by a whistleblower who told the Sunday Mail: "During December, 60 turbines at Arecleoch and 11 at Glen App were de-energised due to a cabling fault at Mark Hill wind farm.

"In order to get these turbines re-energised, diesel generators were running for upwards of six hours a day."

A ScottishPower spokesman said: "Due to an external fault on the network, the three wind farms were unable to operate.

"During the extreme cold in December, in line with manufacturer's recommendations, the turbines' internal temperature were returned to safe levels by six diesel generators for...

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