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dailyrecord | Dozens of giant turbines at Scots windfarms powered by diesel generators, 5 Feb
after a fault developed on the grid.

The firm said it was forced to act in order to keep the turbines warm during very cold weather in December. But a whistleblower has told the Sunday Mail the incident is among a number of environmental and health and safety failings.

The worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "The Scottish Government wants to make our country attractive to foreign investors as 40 per cent of the wind that blows across Europe blows across Scotland. However, that should not mean we put up with our waterways and nature being polluted with carbon from diesel generators and hydraulic oil.
[...]
Labour[!]s South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said: "The SNP and Greens have proven time and time again they cannot be trusted on environmental issues. They laud Scotland's potential for renewables, yet don't appear to ensure those already in existence are properly run. This isn't the first problem raised about this site and there is concern at a lack of openness when problems arise.

"Whatever the reasons, having to use diesel generators to de-ice faulty turbines is environmental madness. This level of dishonesty cuts to the very core of the SNP and Green Government where their rhetoric on net zero is very different from the reality."
[...]
Sixty turbines at Arecleoch Wind farm and 11 at Glenn App near Cairnrayn in South Ayrshire were affacted and connected to six huge diesel generators. The windfarms are operated by Scottish Power Renewables, a subsidiary of Spanish-based Iberdrola, which operates 1183 onshore turbines which can produce enough electricity to power two million homes.
[...]

Spanish PM urges end to EU reliance on imported food, energy, 6 Feb
...He pointed to microchips and personal protective equipment from Asia during the pandemic and Russian natural gas and grains during the war in Ukraine. Sánchez was giving a speech in Madrid to outline policy priorities before Spain assumes the rotating presidency of the EU council in the second half of 2023.

The solution, he added, was to "reindustrialize Europe" and "recover jobs and strategic capabilities that we should never have lost." The focus would not be on traditional heavy manufacturing but "digitalization or ecological transition," said Sánchez, noting that just 1% of solar panels were made in the EU or [sic] 20% of internet storage used by the bloc....

ecb.europa.eu | Monetary policy decisions, 2 Feb
...the Governing Council today decided to raise the three key ECB interest rates by 50 basis points and it expects to raise them further. In view of the underlying inflation pressures, the Governing Council intends to raise interest rates by another 50 basis points at its next monetary policy meeting in March and it will then evaluate the subsequent path of its monetary policy. Keeping interest rates at restrictive levels will over time reduce inflation by dampening demand and will also guard against the risk of a persistent upward shift in inflation expectations. In any event, the Governing Council's future policy rate decisions will continue to be data-dependent and follow a meeting-by-meeting approach.
[...]
Accordingly, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations[,] the interest rates on the marginal lending facility[,] and the deposit facility will be increased to 3.00%, 3.25% and 2.50% respectively, with effect from 8 February 2023....
komersant | Borrowed euro ordered to rise in price or go green, 2 Feb
by Cat on Mon Feb 6th, 2023 at 07:42:17 PM EST
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