Most ot the observations and comments listed below arose from the research that eventually gave rise to the design and construction of 'The Thing', which is featured on my 'Projects' page.
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I had to make absolutely sure that I wasn't misleading myself, by thinking that such a project could be made to work in so bleak place as Shetland. That meant finding out at first hand, from first principles and by experiment rather than from 'accepted wisdom', that enough sun and wind energy were likely to be available for harvesting to make my project a success. The fact that the project was brought into being and now provides a substantial (free) part of the heating energy required by my entire house is simple confirmation that enough free energy to do such a job DOES exist up here - and is available for use. The trick then lay in finding out how to tap into it.
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During the research process, I made a few unexpected discoveries that caused me to question the validity of the basis of certain types of installation, mainly that of wind farms.
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The conclusions that I arrived at as a result can be seen in the paragraphs below. I'll apologise now for the fact that the text is somewhat convoluted and heavy going - but I promise to tidy it up and condense it into something a bit more 'user friendly' at some time in the near future. Watch this space.