Wind Turbines

Definitely successful and I think attractive.

Did you see on tv the one which had been toppled and shredded by storm Dudley?

I like them

I think they're like watching goldfish. Gentle and mesmerising lol

Yes, definitely very successful. Who could have predicted that wind energy has turned out to be less expensive than nuclear.
There has been quite some reluctance to accept that renewable energy can be efficient, it seemed to be thought of as a bit "hippyish" in the past, now it should be accepted as mainstream and the way to move into the future.
Tidal energy should be the next kind to be invested in, we certainly have plenty of coastline.

If they work I’m all for them.

Gentle and mesmerising as HurdyGurdy says.

Definitely successful and I like the looks of them. I live in Cornwall and don't have to drive very far without seeing a few.

Wind energy generation accounted for 24% of total electricity generated in 2020. That's enough for 18.5 million homes. That's success. It's also the cheapest and most efficient way to produce energy.

Some might argue what use are they when there is no wind. I'd like to see more built out to sea where the wind blows nearly 100% of the time.

Our council has a small wind turbine attached to a bus shelter with solar panels on the top and it provides enough power for a notice board. I believe there are plans for more wind turbines and I do think they are worthy if much more investment. We used to love to visit Palm Springs in California and as you approach by road there are 2700 wind turbines of varying sizes, I believe they have been there since the 1980s. I hope we get to see them again.

tanith The problem is that wind power is not reliable. It is providing about 25% of our power as I write, with a further 15% from other renewable or carbon neutral fuels, but if instead of wind and gales we were having a couple of weeks of very cold bright sunny windless weeks, which are not uncommon this time of year, windpower could be producing less than 10% of our power.

A good way to monitor how much of our fuel is being produced from what source is to be found on gridwatch.co.uk/ . This is where the above figures came from.

Ilovecheese the problem with tidal power has been two fold, using tidal generation itself, equipment in the water is corrosion. Salt sea water is corrosive and designing equipment that will work and can survive in the water for long periods is proving difficult.

The other solution is tidal barrages. A tidal barrage is where you build a dam/power station across an estuary. It has to be one with a very large variation between low and high tide levels and water flows in through sluices as the tide comes in, turning the turbines and flows out through sluices to turn the turbines as the tide goes out.

The only place in the UK with sufficient risa and fall of the tide is the Bristol Channel. That ws why it was proposed to build one across part of the river Severn, but seen off by the RSPB . Another major development of tidal lagoons along the Welsh coast of the Bristol Channel was seen off by the government that reckoned it was too expensive.

The French built a tidal power tation across the Rances estuary in Brittany. It was opened by General de Gaulle in 1964, is still working. Generators and turbines have been replaced, but the staion is expected to last atleast another 100 years.

If you get the chance it is worth visiting.

very interesting MOnica thank you.

They are not very attractive if you live in the Highlands and are surrounded by them. Seems like every few months there is a new proposal to build them. In Germany they line the motorways with turbines where they don’t spoil the scenery. The trouble here is that all the big estates can’t make enough money and so rent the land to the electricity companies to build wind farms. - I wonder who owns these big estates?

I wasn't just an objection from the RSPB which scuppered the Severn Barrage.
It wasn't actually cost-effective either, although DH was a firm advocate of the scheme and of tidal power.

October 2010:
Why was the Severn Barrage scrapped?

The high hopes for the colossal project were crushed on 18 October, when the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that the plug was being pulled in favour of pursuing other renewable options, as well as plans for new nuclear power generation. The announcement came after the Severn Tidal Power feasibility study reported that the project was comparatively high cost and high risk.

Chris Huhne, the UK Government’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, framed the cancellation as primarily a measure to safeguard taxpayers’ money. “The study clearly shows that there is no strategic case at this time for public funding of a scheme to generate energy in the Severn estuary. Other low carbon options represent a better deal for taxpayers and consumers,” he said in a statement.
^It was claimed that the Severn Barrage would be able to provide for around 5-6% of the country’s electricity needs.”
Indeed, from a pure cost perspective, the Severn Barrage always had the potential to become a white elephant.^

The sheer scale of the project, along with the vagueness of cost estimates (original estimates spanned a mind-boggling range of £2bn to £20bn, with the recent Severn study predicting that costs could even rise to £30bn), the DECC clearly decided that the upfront cost was disproportionate to the long-term (still largely unproven) benefits, especially during a period of fiscal austerity and massive funding cuts to frontline services.

Beyond problems of financing, the Severn Barrage scheme was controversial from the start due to the undeniable environmental impact that the project would have had on local eco-systems.

^Wildlife campaigners criticised the proposed barrage because it would have effectively halved the tidal range of the river, wreaking havoc on the salt marsh and mud flat feeding grounds of some 85,000 birds. As RSPB conservation Dr Mark Avery told edie.net in an interview back in 2006: “This is one of the most important sites in the UK for wild birds and the chances of them surviving if [the Severn Barrage] went ahead are fairly slim. There wouldn’t be enough room left for all the birds and there wouldn’t be enough food for those that remained.^"

I like them but I can understand them spoiling the view if surrounded by them

tanith

Apparently during storm Eunice GBs wind turbines were producing nearly 50% of demand at the height and 39% the rest of the time. Some farms had to shut them down to save them from damage. I know some people think they are awful and unsightly but it seems a very successful enterprise or am I wrong. Thoughts?

DH worked on them before he retired and he says that they are feathered in weather like yesterday. There upper safety limit is 50-55 mph Wind speed.

On the coldest, often foggy days in winter they do not operate.

I don't think they are awful.

DH says we have ditched the coal fired power stations far too soon, and we should have spent money on nuclear power 20+ years ago.

Of course it doesn't matter what they produce if the power cables are down.

Good points Monica and Marmadoit. They work OK if it is windy, but they do look awful. Coal and oil reserves have been depleted too soon.

Some very interesting info but i can understand when they spoil a view, i remember the wind farms off Norfolk coast when i was on holiday and I did think it was a shame it was so in your face.

I think they are great and just what we need. In fact we have just bought into a wide farm and will be getting, I believe, a discount on our electricity.

I think they are horrible, but a necessary evil. They are quite noisy close too, as well.

I don't quite understand why new houses aren't required to be fitted with solar energy panels for water heating and electricity. I appreciate that they don't work well, or at all, in low light conditions, but when they are working the photovoltaic ones can feed excess electricity to the grid, cutting down the need for fossil fuel power generation.

But expecting individuals to spend money installing them, with quite a long pay back period, isn't going to contribute much to 'green' energy. (And stopping the payment to householders for the electricity from their PV panels that fed back into the grid didn't help to encourage people to install them)

Perhaps some investment in battery technology would be a help, too.

house building is just about profit for the developers and town councils

I think they are a hideous blight on the landscape.

LadyGracie

I think they are a hideous blight on the landscape.

They're not pretty, are they.

Not like the old windmills.

From our town you can see the new Hinckley C Nuclear Power Station being built and I'd rather see wind turbines than that looming monstrosity.