Donald Trump's visit to UK saw wind turbine delivery CANCELLED

By JOHN PAUL BRESLIN, WEEKEND NEWS EDITOR - SCOTLAND Published: 17:40, 16 May 2026 | Updated: 17:44, 16 May 2026 He has a long and bitter relationship with wind farms, labelling them ‘windmills,’ ‘ugly,’ ‘noisy,’ and ‘pathetic’. So, there might be an element of satisfaction for US President Donald Trump on hearing that his visit to Scotland last summer caused a headache for at least one firm installing them. Fred Olsen Renewables, which operates around 260 turbines in Scotland, saw its plans thrown into chaos after Mr Trump announced his four-day trip. The company had booked three police escorts to accompany several huge turbine blades as they were transported through Scotland to its Crystal Rig IV wind farm, near Dunbar in East Lothian. However, the additional demands on Police Scotland as it looked to provide enhanced security for the president in July of last year meant it had to cancel its planned escort for the equipment. The situation resulted in the company’s plans being delayed by five weeks in all. It only managed to get back on track with its project by implementing double shifts. The delivery and movement of wind turbines has required a police escort on at least 3,636 occasions in Scotland since 2017-18. However, the true figure will be far higher due to the way the movement of other wind farm equipment is recorded. President Trump at the opening of his Aberdeenshire golf course President Trump has been a regular critic of wind turbine developments Police Scotland has previously said that because escorting abnormal loads is not a core part of its duties, it relies on ‘specially trained officers undertaking these tasks on rest days’. The force can recoup money for journeys that take more than an hour from the hauliers transporting the parts. The size of turbines has also grown since their initial introduction, with turbine blades now measuring more than half the length of a football pitch. Mr Trump has long been a critic of wind farms – which he mockingly refers to as ‘windmills’. He has tried to block turbines being built alongside his golf course in Aberdeenshire and has accused Scottish wind of ‘ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds’. Earlier this week, he criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, saying it was ‘absolutely crazy’ not to boost oil and gas extraction in the North Sea and focus instead on renewable energy. He said: ‘You’re windmilling your country to death. Open up the North Sea. You have one of the greatest sources of energy in the world.’  Donald Trump and  Prime Minister Keir Starmer walk from Marine One, as they arrive at Trump International Golf Links at Balmedie, Aberdeen The president enjoyed a four-day private trip to Scotland last July, during which he played golf at his Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire, and his Trump Turnberry course in Ayrshire. He also held meetings with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The visit required a huge security operation costing more than £20million. During his round at Turnberry Mr Trump was surrounded by a 28-golf buggy cavalcade of staff, secret service agents and advisers, as well as dozens of police officers. Miles of temporary 10ft fences with ultra-fine mesh kept protesters away. A spokesman for Fred Olsen said: ‘During the construction of the Crystal Rig IV windfarm last September, the large-scale policing operation associated with the Presidential visit led to the temporary redeployment of specialist police escorts — a particular requirement of Scotland’s abnormal load system — causing short-term disruption to turbine deliveries. ‘We worked closely with contractors to re-sequence logistics and the construction schedule, keeping the project on track. ‘While this approach is clearly vital for public safety, there may be an opportunity in future to explore alternative escort models, similar to those used elsewhere in the UK, to help maintain delivery momentum without compromising safety as the pace of the energy transition accelerates.’ The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.