Wind Turbines

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I see one of them was shown in flames as a result of the strong winds. Have there been other instances of this before, around Britain?

 

[sprinterguy]

Yep, it happens sporadically. One of the newly installed wind turbines at the Nissan plant in Sunderland went up in smoke at Christmas 2005, and I'm sure I've heard of other instances (One in Lincolnshire a little while ago possibly?) occuring in Britain.
http://whenwindturbinesgobad.blogspot.com/2008/03/sunderland-december-2005.html

 

[Oswyntail]

So they can only be used when not calm or not too not calm? THat sounds like the answer to everyone's energy problems:roll:

 

[deltic1989]

Yep, it happens sporadically. One of the newly installed wind turbines at the Nissan plant in Sunderland went up in smoke at Christmas 2005, and I'm sure I've heard of other instances (One in Lincolnshire a little while ago possibly?) occuring in Britain.
http://whenwindturbinesgobad.blogspot.com/2008/03/sunderland-december-2005.html

Not heard of one going up in smoke in this neck of the woods. Could be wrong though. heard about one supposedly hit by a UFO near North Somercotes though.

 

[jon0844]

The fire at the one at the Nissan plant was apparently caused by the people doing maintenance on it.

Having a look around the net, it does seem that there are an incredibly large number of sites/people who are really against them and jump on any photo/video that can make out that they're lethal and totally pointless.

They serve a purpose along with other green energy solutions and I am not sure why we should be against having them. I presume people were against electricity pylons, satellite dishes and cellular transmitters (more recently) but soon get used to them.

 

[Oswyntail]

Yes - though what I object to is people who say wind power is the only answer we need. The current windfarms do have some serious drawbacks. Not least of which, IMHO, is that they tend to congregate in massive clusters in areas of outstanding natural beauty
As for pylons, I remember a short story by Dorothy L Sayers (of Peter Wimsey fame, so 1920s/30s) where the opposition to the progress of pylons was a significant part of the background, so, yes it did happen

 

[jon0844]

They can never be the only answer. When it's not windy - they don't do much. When it's too windy, brakes must be applied to prevent disaster.

They however are worth having, along with energy from the sun and water.

If they reduce the need to use fossil fuels (or build new power stations) then great. And the other way to improve things is to make things consume less energy in the first place.

While a kettle/oven is always going to need a lot of power, computers, TVs and light bulbs can all cut power consumption so the average household will need a lot less power in the first place.

 

[sprinterguy]

Not heard of one going up in smoke in this neck of the woods. Could be wrong though. heard about one supposedly hit by a UFO near North Somercotes though.

That'll be what I was thinking of. I don't believe for a second that a UFO had anything to do with it, so I'm classifying it as some sort of mechanical failure, if not a burn out.

 

[Crossover]

They can never be the only answer. When it's not windy - they don't do much. When it's too windy, brakes must be applied to prevent disaster.

I reckon this is what hasn't happened with the one in the picture circulating itself round Britain....it has probably ended up spinning too fast and in the process, overheated the generator, causing illustrated result

 

[Deerfold]

That'll be what I was thinking of. I don't believe for a second that a UFO had anything to do with it, so I'm classifying it as some sort of mechanical failure, if not a burn out.

I don't see why not. UFO does not imply aliens.

 

[Schnellzug]

They can never be the only answer. When it's not windy - they don't do much. When it's too windy, brakes must be applied to prevent disaster.

They however are worth having, along with energy from the sun and water.

If they reduce the need to use fossil fuels (or build new power stations) then great. And the other way to improve things is to make things consume less energy in the first place.

While a kettle/oven is always going to need a lot of power, computers, TVs and light bulbs can all cut power consumption so the average household will need a lot less power in the first place.

What about trains, though? It does seem a little ironic to me that modern trains seem to be so much heavier than older ones. Surely they must need much more power; how much does a Desiro use compaired with say a 4 VEP, i wonder?

 

[Nym]

Yes - though what I object to is people who say wind power is the only answer we need. The current windfarms do have some serious drawbacks. Not least of which, IMHO, is that they tend to congregate in massive clusters in areas of outstanding natural beauty
As for pylons, I remember a short story by Dorothy L Sayers (of Peter Wimsey fame, so 1920s/30s) where the opposition to the progress of pylons was a significant part of the background, so, yes it did happen

Oh ye oh ye, us power systems engineers are working on solving that, HVDC offshore transmission networks costing over £50bn will mean offshore wind is more feasible..

 

[Peter Mugridge]

heard about one supposedly hit by a UFO near North Somercotes though.

From memory that incident turned out to be a blade detaching because of a fatigue issue in the mounting.