Nissan Wind Farm Spins Into Action (UK)

[struggle4progress]

The wind farm at Nissan Sunderland is now fully operational and has begun generating power for the plant.

Construction of the £2 million project began in September, when the first of six wind turbines was installed in the centre of the 750 acre site.

Now the switch-on has been successfully completed, and the turbines have begun generating what will amount to 5% of the car plant's annual energy requirement. They will also cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants supplying the car factory by up to 10,000 tonnes/year.

Planning permission for the farm was granted by Sunderland City Council following a highly detailed feasibility study. This took into consideration the views and opinions of local residents, as well as ensuring that the farm fully complies with strict noise level guidelines. <snip>

http://www.carpages.co.uk/nissan/nissan-wind-farms-12-11-05.asp?switched=on&echo=925330083

[necso]

1. Wind has good potential,

but wind-based generation is probably more a thing for communities or businesses than it is for (most) house-holders. (For now at least -- and probably for the medium term at least.)

Solar radiation, gravity, earth spin, and things of this nature are sources that we can rely on indefinitely -- however we actually exploit them. And if they go away, then pretty much we're screwed anyway.

[skids]

2. I'm keeping my eye on terra moya aqua.

To have mass appeal, backyard turbines have to be operable at surface wind speeds, so they don't require a building permit, and they have to work at very slow blade RPMs for safety reasons. They are big compared to the aount of power they harvest -- but big doesn't neccessarily have to mean expensive. These guys claim an 18 foot tall shrouded lowspeed groundlevel VAWT at 1kW max power output, and is bird friendly and immune to gale force wind damage. That might be a winner.

[necso]

3. I'm not thinking cost

(ROI, whatever) as much as I am thinking space, suitability of locations, end-user (neighbor, etc) acceptance and stuff like that.

Wind would be great for home power (where it's adequate) -- it blows at night too.

But you can stick solar panels (water heating systems, etc) on the roof (best location or not)... and they don't look bad. And there are (or will be) other solar options that are basically invisible.