Posts Tagged ‘Negative response’
The positive effect obtained from wind energy
The fact that wind energy now plays a leading role in the country’s energy supply should not be an obstacle to their development. Supporters of the facilities producing electricity from wind power can breathe a sigh of relief.
“The ridges of the Jura and remain accessible to the wind,” says Fernand Cuche, State Councilor (Senator) in Neuchâtel the Green Party. In late August, the Federal Court (TF) had accepted an appeal by the developers of a project to build seven plants in the area of the View of the Alps in the canton of Neuchâtel.
A negative response to Switzerland’s Supreme Court would set a final deadline for the development of wind farms in Switzerland.
A negligible contribution
To understand the scope of this decision, we must look back. In March 2005, the Administrative Court of the Canton of Neuchâtel had received an appeal against this bill, introduced by some locals, supported by the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Protection and the Swiss Heritage Association.
Neuchâtel judges considered that protection of the landscape – in this case the ridges of the Jura – was prominent in view of the contribution “weak if not insignificant” wind energy to supply electricity in the country.
“We can not keep any money a form of energy that can be justified anywhere else but in Switzerland it is hardly conceivable. There is enough wind in our country,” said Richard Patthey, secretary of the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Protection.
A shared argument
This kind of argument, however, was not shared by the Federal Court. Its five judges stressed that the fact that wind energy contributes to reduced energy supply can not be considered as a “decisive.”