World's largest offshore wind farm opens

Kingfish

100 MW
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Redmond, WA-USA, Earth, Sol, Orion–Cygnus Arm, Mil
This event happened TODAY...
Covered by MSNBC and Reuters

Related story:
Scotland has raised its renewable electricity target from 50 percent to 80 percent by 2020.


No doubt about it, the Isle of Britain is aggressively moving towards reducing the carbon footprint, with Scotland leading the way.
Awesome progress! :mrgreen:
~KF
 
That's huge. MSNBC also has a good story about the automotive X-Prize competition.
 
Surprising to see these island nations investing so much in wind generation when they have so many rivers (solar plus earth gravity power) and tidal flows (moon gravity) both of which are far more consistent than the winds... Can the marine environment be so much harsher that air gives better payback over time after maintenance/replacement costs?

EVen on a really "bad" day the Thames River sees 686 million litres/151 million gallons per day flow by at Kingston.

I am stuck in the colonies... anyone from Blighty care to comment?

tks
loCk

Joke: What are "oats"?
Answer: Watt the Scottish eat and the English feed their horses...
:)
 
I also wondered why they are on the wrong side of the surface... :)

100923_thanet.grid-10x2.jpg

I'm guessing maintenance and environmental concerns... look at the size of these guys^ on the boat here!
you could have something much smaller for the same power in water.
 
`Xactly... water being almost 800x as dense as air... Plus gravity being more reliable... Solar in the UK, maybe not so much :D
But still...
 
Wow, that is an awesome proposal for storage! 8)

In my mind, I visually was thinking of something smaller akin to a system like the Diablo-Helms Pumped Storage Project in California: As a nuclear plant, Diablo has to run in a steady state for the best efficiency. Counter to that the Helms Pumped Storage is designed for on-peak demand generation and off-peak recharge. There’s another facility in California that utilizes pumped storage as well: San Luis Reservoir – however it is primarily used to buffer the flow of the California Aqueduct and owned by a different entity.

The Ontario-Eire link though would be a huge asset in that part of the globe! Now if Scotland/Britain had only such physical capacity… :wink:
~KF
 
The problem with hydropower is that it disrupts the movement of fish and other sea life. I think they decided to sacrifice the birds/bats instead :p

Anyway, right on for them! America's still at what... 10 percent overall renewable energy usage :(
 
I was thinking of the big sky theory in aviation.. oceans are pretty damn big. Its not a constrained habitat like a river, which btw is already commonly used for hydro power successfully. Problem there is not enough good river locations to do hydro power up at. Just stay out of any high volume lanes in the ocean and I don't think there will be issues with fish. Rust and salt corrosion shouldn't be a problem as its not 1950. We've got plenty of strong materials that don't rust these days.
 
vanilla ice said:
I also wondered why they are on the wrong side of the surface... :)

100923_thanet.grid-10x2.jpg

I'm guessing maintenance and environmental concerns... look at the size of these guys^ on the boat here!
you could have something much smaller for the same power in water.


Ah haa.. I can see a future AIR BULL AIR RACE.. version EXTREME !!!.. crossing these windmill lades at high speed.. :twisted:

Sven%20Hoffmann%202%20October%20113.JPG


Doc
 
Wow, I wonder why we're getting tornadoes in SW Colorado now??? :roll:

I'm still convinced those things really screw with weather patterns, and underwater is no better.
 
mdd0127 said:
Wow, I wonder why we're getting tornadoes in SW Colorado now??? :roll:

I'm still convinced those things really screw with weather patterns, and underwater is no better.
Hmm, yes – like trees and forests. That’s why we cut them down, right? :roll:
Spare me, KF
 
I wouldn't complain about reforestation but giant installation wind farms HAVE to be screwing up global wind current patterns. Humans are too dumb to keep messing with nature in such a big scale.

The only solution is a drastically reduced world population, which will probably force itself to happen very soon. The weather has been getting more and more unpredictable and violent over the last few years and I think it's our fault.

If we spent the same amount of money/effort we currently spend trying to completely replace our current fossil energy use with alternative energy on education, population control, and figuring out ways to use less energy in the first place, we might have a chance for a peaceful, plentiful future.
 
+1 on population reduction (by peaceful means) :)

Although there is turbulence introduced by wind farms, it is a drop in the bucket compared with the effects from massive amounts of deforestation and infrastructure we has humans have inflicted on our environment; it is but a small counterweight relative to the rest. I would rather support the industry than carbon-based energy sources. Hydro, which appears as "free" energy is massively harmful to the environment as well, by drowning meadows, by eliminating natural fish migration, by withholding sediments which replenish estuaries, and so much more...

We could be better served by utilizing undersea currents and wave technology with less dramatic effects upon flora and fauna. We need to listen more to what Nature is doing and try to emulate it in a manner that is cooperative and symbiotic with our shared world.

We need to stop building cities below floodplains and on sinking estuaries. Painful as it sounds, I actually think we should divert Mississippi sediments into the lower wards and fill them in. Then put trees on top, or farm it.

There is no solution for tornadoes, except an above-ground bunker. That, or replant the old forest we cut down; that might slow down the ground-effect. Though I don’t think that will help in the case of hurricanes, volcanoes, or earthquakes; MoaBs maybe, but not trees, no. :(

._.. tapping out Morse from my hidden urban cave, KF
 
Why not much HEP in UK? You need a lot of water dropping a long way in a short distance where there are not many people around. No BIG rivers in UK, full stop. Elevation changes are tiny compared to what is commonplace in north america. Finally, there are people everywhere........
The Severn estuary must be one of the most appropriate sites in the world for a tidal barrier power station (2nd highest tidal range in the world - 40ft every day...) but the cost would be astronomic & environmental impact severe.
Windmills are relatively cheap to install & the only real downside is the noise, offshore is great for everybody!
 
Ypedal said:
Pls take Thorium discussion to this thread :
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=37625&p=547774#p547774
thx. 8)

There is something very goofy going on here. The cost of building a 1MW tower on land is $1M. The cost of building one in the ocean is $6.5M. 70% of this cost is being subsidized by the UK government. Experience has taught us that whenever subsidies are involved, costs are inflated. All of the NIMBY's will not only pay the 70% through taxes, but they will pay 3-4X more for this :mrgreen: power, than current prices. :lol: :lol: :lol: But they won't have to look at ugly wind towers in their backyard. If any of your local power companies go for offshore wind generation, get off the grid as fast as you can.

Hey Ypedal, get a new pair of close lookers when you start screwing with moving posts.
 
Kingfish said:
Update on Atlantic Wind from MSNBC...

Answer to cheap power is blowing in offshore wind

Impressive plans if it can be managed.
~KF

"CHEAP" :?: Please look at the actual cost of a 1MW windmill as installed in the Scotish Project, $6.5M.
Then look at the cost of a 1MW windmill installed on land in the Gaspe, $1M. Now do the math. 1KW from the Gaspe is priced @ $0.15, so I can only assume 1KW from offshore is @$0.975. Cheap, like $5 a US gallon for gasoline :!: :shock:
 
Moving related post dated on Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:59 am back to here:

Kingfish said:
MSNBC Today - US: Mid-Atlantic wind farms take step forward

Offshore wind farms from New Jersey to Virginia took a big step closer to reality with the completion of a review that showed the renewable energy source would leave no major environmental damage, officials said Thursday.

Obama administration Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also said his department also was trying to speed up the process for issuing renewable energy leases. Wind projects off the coasts of Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and New Jersey are being studied.
...
Dominion Virginia Power is interested in building up to 400 wind turbines in Atlantic waters as soon as they are open for development, officials with that state's largest electric utility told The Associated Thursday.

Progress. KF

On moving posts: I kindly requested the separation because the discussion on this thread was no longer about the Heading.
~KF
 
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