Windfarm Information
The principle of using the power of the wind has been around since the first sea-faring adventurers added sails to their boats. Early windmills used the sails on a fixed building to pump water or grind grain. At the turn of the 20th century the first electric windmills were built and for decades wind turbines were among the most common electrical generators worldwide. In the middle 20th century individual wind turbines were superseded as national electrical grids made inroads to all parts of developed nations. In the 1970's the technologies began to become more common again with Danish farmers in particular taking advantage of competitive 50KW class machines. Engineering advances brought down the per unit output cost but other advances such as the developing science of wind knowledge and the European Wind Atlas made developments better and popular. By the mid 1980's Danish technology was supplying at least half of the world's wind energy requirements. As the 1990's came manufacturers began selling larger turbines and as the offshore wind industry develops in this new century, multi-Megawatt machines of 3 to 5 MW are becoming common.
Wind Energy is now accepted as a valid generation option for any circumstance. Household to international trading. Growing concerns about climate change and the use of finite fossil fuels creates increasing support for the use of clean energy from renewable sources.
Wind energy as the most advanced of the renewable energy alternatives has several positive aspects. The following bullet points are based upon points presented by the Yes2Wind campaign:
- Wind energy causes no pollution, no waste and does not use up fuel that cannot be recaptured.
- Wind energy is abundant and reliable. Shetland has a world-class wind resource and studies such as that recently published by Oxford University conclude that a geographically dispersed UK wind portfolio would be dependable. Shetland could be the strongest performing part of that portfolio. The wind supply will never be cut off because of international politics.
- Wind energy is affordable. Generation costs per unit output for modern wind turbines are now equal to or below comparable alternatives. As the cost of gas and oil increases this situation will only improve in favour of wind energy. Nuclear can undoubtedly compete but only if decommissioning and waste disposal costs are ignored.
- Wind energy is successful. Denmark already gets 20% of its electricity supply from wind energy. Since the UK currently only gets around 3% in the same manner then there is considerable room for more. It is true that Denmark's use of wind energy is slowing but this is a reduction in the rate of quantifiable increase - not a decrease.
- Wind energy creates jobs. There are skilled jobs in the manufacturing sector, the servicing sector and the administration sector. Environmental management and impact assessment companies have never been busier with the unprecedented levels of environmental studying undertaken to prepare for wind energy developments. Local authorities even need additional planning officers to handle the growing number of applications for projects.
- Wind energy is safe. Wind turbines, like any machine, can have catastrophic failures but the risks associated with wind turbines are as low or lower than any other form of power generation. There are no huge oil tanks to catch fire and it is unlikely that terrorists might ever target wind turbines.
- Wind energy is accepted and popular. MORI and NOP (leading market and public opinion research agencies) repeatedly find that public favour is firmly behind wind energy and, importantly, that experience of windfarms increases positive reaction. Details of one of the latest studies.