The ideal location for a green energy hub is Jurby airfield.
It is a brownfield industrial site already owned by the government.
Six large wind turbines could easily be sited with room to spare.
The ground is level and accessible to the heavy construction plant needed.
Instead of building a landing stage ruining Castletown promenade it could be built at Sartfield just a few hundred level metres from where the turbines will be erected, no need to rebuild roads.
There is a local supplier of ready mixed concrete already on site to provide the many hundreds of tons of concrete that will be needed for the turbine foundations.
The turbines will be as far away from Ronaldsway as possible to eliminate aviation conflicts.
An HT electricity supply line to the main grid exists already for the prison and local industries.
Why not also use the site to build a solar panel farm in the same location? It could use the same grid connection.
This would be better than disfiguring government buildings with unsightly solar panels.
In the future the hub could be extended to the old Andreas airfield, either by agreement or compulsory purchase, to further increase the potential of the hub site.
Tests will show there is plenty of wind at Jurby, it is like being out at sea and the north enjoys more hours of sunshine than the rest of the island for the solar panels.
If the island must go green this is the cheapest and least obtrusive place to do it.
Name and address supplied
This letter was first published in the Manx Independent of September 28
Share your views with our readers.
Write to: Opinions, Isle of Man Examiner and Manx Independent, 18 Finch Road, Douglas, IM1 2PT or email:
Don’t forget to include your name, FULL home address and a daytime phone number even if you want to be anonymous in print.