I THINK it should be pointed out to M Palmer that the choice is not between 20 turbines down the Severn estuary or a 'monstrous atomic power station', however majestic one turbine is and I agree a single one a long, long way away can look impressive. 

If they were turbines of the size proposed by the Dean Community Energy Group [500kW] and if they ran with a capacity of 30 per cent (which is highly optimistic, Daily Telegraph January 2 2011)  then  to equal the output of a nuclear power station  there would need to be 8,000 of them.

Spaced on a grid of 250 metres, which this size of machine typically has, this would require an area of 500 square kilometres – about five times the area of the Forest.

Of course if M Palmer doesn't like turbines or nuclear power he/she could try fracking.

– Herbie Renfield, Longhope.