Two Western Isles councillors attempt to persuade us once again of the economic and climatic benefits of industrial-scale wind farms (January 12) and also that the people in the Western Isles had a fair say before the council approved the last iteration in the planning process - there is at least one more to go. The fantasy of a democratic process is far from borne out by the latest Scottish Executive figures, which show 4692 objections and 12 in favour of the Lewis wind power scheme.

To get an idea of the environmental impact of the proposed 140-metre turbine LWP wind farm, it is worth having a look at the computer-generated image from the recent BBC Coast programme (bbc.co.uk/coast after selecting Outer Hebrides).

Further south, the proposed Muaitheabhal scheme (sponsored by Eishkin estate landlord through Beinn Mhor Power with a London address) is no less contentious; the latest planning iteration also saw the total number of turbines reduced to placate RSPB concerns but an extra 12 plonked on the shores of Loch Seaforth directly opposite the Harris village of Marraig.

The headlong dash, to get the contracts in place and the turbines up before the special grants run out, starts with Amec (LWP sponsors with a Hexham address) getting a whiff of rich pickings for themselves and their shareholders. The men in sharp suits and a slick Powerpoint presentation soon neutralise naive politicians (from Westminster down to local council level) with images of short-term goodies. This is a vital step before trampling over local communities and environmentally protected areas. It seems that Amec now has them writing letters to the papers, Alasdair Morrison sychronised embarrassingly (January 6) with an Amec manager moaning about the RSPB.

The RSPB is only doing its job, as arguably is Amec when maximising shareholder profit. Are Alasdair and other elected politicians doing theirs? The evidence from Scottish Executive figures and affected local communities indicates that they are not. There is time (until January 29) to object to Amec's latest 181-turbine proposal: the Scottish Executive, Energy Consents Unit, 5 Cadogan Street, Glasgow, G2 6AT, or energyconsents@scotland. gsi.gov.uk.

Iain Mackenzie, 24 Fair-a-Far Cottages, Edinburgh.

A R NELSON continues to peddle myths about wind power, by claiming it is unreliable and needs constant back-up from conventional power generators (Letters, January 12). In fact, all power generation methods need some back-up. Nuclear and coal-fired generation plant does not run all the time due to outages for planned maintenance and also unplanned failures. When a big nuclear or coal-fired plant fails, it takes a huge amount of back-up to fill the gap. When a single wind turbine fails, which is very seldom, the loss is tiny in relation to the whole grid.

A modern wind turbine in a windy location in Scotland will typically be generating for about 90% of the time. Also, we now have ways of storing electricity, so surplus wind power can be stored and then released when the wind is weak, thus making wind power available when it is needed. Methods of storage include well-established pumped hydro storage (originally developed to work alongside inflexible nuclear plant), hydrogen generation with fuel cells and compressed air using old coal mines. Scotland is lucky: we have substantial pumped storage hydro systems and the potential for a lot more, and we have several old mines which could be used for storing compressed air.

With global climate change at the top of the agenda, this is Scotland's big chance to make a substantial contribution to solving it and also the opportunity to gain high-class employment. It is important, therefore, that we do not spoil these opportunities by spreading misinformation about renewables.

Kerr MacGregor, Scottish Solar Energy Group, 31 Temple Village, Midlothian.