Windmills in the storm

How long will it be before some tearful windmill farmer looks out over vacant seascape and wonders where his towers went

The recent letter in PE discussing the large bending moments to which sea-based wind turbines are based raises an interesting question. The topic of 'climate change (sic)' has inspired many recent articles and letters, however, large scale overnight landscape reshaping has not been mentioned.

Surely, the fact that many of the turbines are situated in areas where landscapes have vanished or have been suddenly drastically reshaped does not appear to be a matter for concern or discussion. Surely a matter more important than bending moments.

The history of the North Sea 'Mandrenke' or storm floods is well documented from the eighth century to the present. The flood of 1362 is supposed to have killed 100,000 people overnight and changed the landscape between Hamburg and Ripen /Denmark. The seventeenth century floods were dramatic and landscape changing enough to inspire Theodor Storm to write his famous novel 'Der Schimmelreiter' on the importance of maintaining the dikes. There have been so many documented major disasters over the years and there are plenty more yet to come.

How long will it be before some tearful windmill farmer looks out over vacant seascape and wonders where his towers went?

Paul Shipman, Leicestershire

Next letter: Definition of professionalism