It’s true, wind turbines are monstrous. But I have learned to love them | Alice O’Keeffe

At first I resented the way they blocked the view. But now the towers look like part of a brighter future

Over the last few months I have been watching with mixed feelings as the Rampion wind farm emerges like a great monster from the sea off Brighton beach. It has happened so quickly: one morning in the early summer a few small grey stumps appeared on the previously flat horizon. Only weeks later, the first turbines were up, instantly giving the familiar sea view a new, industrial edge. Since then more and more have appeared, row upon row of them. Though they are eight miles offshore, they dominate the view from the beach now, and create strange optical illusions; in some weathers they look close, and in others very far away. Occasionally, on a seemingly clear day, they inexplicably disappear from view.

Over the summer I mourned the glorious, uninterrupted horizons that used to beckon

Continue reading...