Windmill views (From Gazette & Herald)

Windmill views

3:44pm Thursday 28th January 2010

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NEWS of the proposals for nine off-shore wind-farm developments will bring joy to the hearts of some. Others will regard them as a pestilence, and very many will be quite unimpassioned.

What does one get for the money? The Hornsea site details are obfuscated in some media reports, being reported as a part of the whole. But a little translation reveals that about 975 windmills will be installed, each with a power capacity of 5MW. These are big machines – the propellers are 98 metres in diameter.

If the nearest to the shore is 10km, the full disc of the rotor will appear as large as a full moon on a clear night. The most distant fully visible disc will be 30km away. Impressive, or a blot on the seascape?

When these are running, we will experience some wobbly electricity until such time as generation- dependant loads are created.

Electricity generation is currently load-dependent. Processes such as water treatment, waste treatment, hydrogen and synthetic oil (as a stored fuel) fit this concept. Their production is not critical within many hours and shift pattern operation will allow a good electricity system frequency and stability control.

D M Loxley, Hartoft, Pickering

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