The end for windfarms in the islands?

[theone]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7576480.stm

With transmission losses so high, and therefore costs so great could this be the end of windfarm operators cashing in on remote locations as sites for their windfarms?

It always seemed strange to me that one of things that was against a new nuclear plant was that commercially, it was not viable to produce large amounts of energy up here, only for a large amount to be lost in transmission south.

[Rheghead]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7576480.stm

With transmission losses so high, and therefore costs so great could this be the end of windfarm operators cashing in on remote locations as sites for their windfarms?

It always seemed strange to me that one of things that was against a new nuclear plant was that commercially, it was not viable to produce large amounts of energy up here, only for a large amount to be lost in transmission south.

Transmission losses isn't the prohibitive factor in the UK though transmission charging could be. AFAIK, transmission losses through heat along the cables is commercially sustainable for up to 4000 miles between the generator and consumer, this is not a problem in the UK it is only ~800 miles long N-S.

[Welcomefamily]

Lets hope not, I think we should build hundreds more.
Go on hug a windmill. [lol]

[Margaret M.]

It sounds like remote locations or the middle of the ocean is the right place for them. A company called Caithness Energy caught my eye in the article. Full article is here:

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/08/wind_farms_whip_up_health_fear.html

Wind farms whip up health fears for Oregon residents near turbines
by Richard Cockle, The Oregonian
Monday August 11, 2008, 12:09 PM

Richard Cockle / The Oregonian
Mike Eaton worries that some of the 48 wind turbines in the Willow Creek Wind Project west of Boardman may be sited too close to his rural home.Residents living near new wind farms that are sprouting hundreds of giant turbines in the Oregon desert are raising concerns about health effects and an end to their quiet way of life.

New research suggests that living close to wind turbines can cause sleep disorders, difficulty with equilibrium, headaches, childhood "night terrors" and other health problems.

Dozens of wind turbines are taking shape along Oregon 74, a designated Oregon Scenic Byway, near the Boardman home the Eatons have shared for 19 years.

Last month, Sherry Eaton pulled into the driveway of her rural high-desert home to see one of several giant wind turbines being assembled a half-mile away.

"I started to cry," Eaton, 57, recalled of her first sight of the Willow Creek Wind Project. "They're going to be hanging over the back of our house, and now there's the medical thing."

Dr. Nina Pierpont of Malone, N.Y., coined the phrase "wind turbine syndrome" for what she says happens to some people living near wind energy farms. She has made the phrase part of the title of a book she's written called "Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on the Natural Experiment." It's scheduled for publication next month by K-Selected Press, of Santa Fe, N.M.

In contrast to those who consider wind turbines clean, green and an ideal source of renewable energy, Pierpont says living or working too close to them has a downside. Her research says wind turbines should never be built closer than two miles from homes.

Pierpont, 53, is a 1991 graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has a doctorate in population biology from Princeton University. Her interest was piqued by a wind farm being built near her upstate New York home, and she studied 10 families living near wind turbines built since 2004 in Canada, England, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

[Rheghead]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/scotland_politics/7576480.stm

With transmission losses so high, and therefore costs so great could this be the end of windfarm operators cashing in on remote locations as sites for their windfarms?

It always seemed strange to me that one of things that was against a new nuclear plant was that commercially, it was not viable to produce large amounts of energy up here, only for a large amount to be lost in transmission south.

Transmission losses isn't the prohibitive factor in the UK (7.4%) though transmission charging could be. AFAIK, transmission losses through heat along the cables is commercially sustainable for up to 4000 miles between the generator and consumer, this is not a problem in the UK as it is only ~800 miles long N-S.

[Kenn]

Why can't local wind farms be used to power local homes and businesses?
Is there a real need for them to be part of The National Grid?
From the statistics I have seen they are not particularly efficient so would therefore be a better bet as a sustainable energy source locally or is that just too simplistic a view?

[Tilter]

It sounds like remote locations or the middle of the ocean is the right place for them.

Margaret, there's a petition to the government to sign up to at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/2000metres/ requesting a buffer zone of 2 km between residences and turbines. It sounds reasonable to me as a lot of people apparently are having problems with noise, health, etc., and inability to sell their house or devaluation of their property if turbines are built too close to houses.

[Rheghead]

Margaret, there's a petition to the government to sign up to at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/2000metres/ requesting a buffer zone of 2 km between residences and turbines. It sounds reasonable to me as a lot of people apparently are having problems with noise, health, etc., and inability to sell their house or devaluation of their property if turbines are built too close to houses.

It seems that CWIF have more conservative recommendations.

This is why CWIF believe that there should be a minimum distance of at least 1km between turbines and occupied housing – and preferably at least 2km in line with other European countries in order to address other problems such as noise. :confused