Letter by John Lavender, Port Erin in relation to the proposed on-shore windfarm on the Isle of Man

I am wary of the figures quoted by Tim Crookall MHK in relation to the ‘capacity factor’ of wind farms.

He quotes a typical British 20kw project as being 35 per cent.

This figure is often claimed by developers at the planning stage, but an accurate assessment, usually after five years of operation, generally finds a far lower level of efficiency of between 15 and 20 per cent.

If the Island is set on allowing wind farms to be built, onshore or offshore, we should insist that they are entirely commercial operations; that no taxpayers’ money is used to subsidise them and that electricity bills are not inflated to cover their inefficiency.

My own choice would be for the Island to consider the possibilty of fracking, or a small nuclear generator of the type already perfected by Rolls-Royce.