Not another bl***dy windfarm 🤬
- Thread starter Tradewinds
- Start date
John_Silver
Well-Known Member
May need to move some waypoints. Especially the one on the N Inner Gabbard (top left corner of existing windfarm) which I like to home in on, coming into the Orwell from Scheveningen /IJmuiden / the Frisians........EDIT Actually, looking on a chart, the Five Estuaries farms don't look too obstructive, if coming in from the NW (as in above scenarios). Looks to be well S of the rhumb line. BUT the North Falls extension seems to obstruct the direct route from Long Sand Head to the Delta or Vlissingen. Glad that I have the time, these days, to sail south! Although the French are busy with offshore windfarms on their Atlantic coast too......
PR puff here
PR puff here
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KevinV
Well-Known Member
Interesting article in my Dutch paper - about turbines cutting each other out of the wind. Not sure if you can access it, but same principle as trees in a wood:
Slecht nieuws voor energietransitie: verwacht niet te veel van windmolens, want ze houden elkaar uit de wind
Slecht nieuws voor energietransitie: verwacht niet te veel van windmolens, want ze houden elkaar uit de wind
John_Silver
Well-Known Member
Paywall. Is there a chunk (summary / overview) you can screenshot?
KevinV
Well-Known Member
Even better, here's the study itself:
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-sustainability/fulltext/S2949-7906(25)00269-1?utm_medium=homepage
Sailing steve
Well-Known Member
What's the problem?
The more cheap power we can generate ourselves from renewables means we've less reliance on crazy men holding us to ransom with fossil fuel supply and less justification for our leaders and masters sitting back and allowing our wonderful privatised energy companies shareholders to continue screwing us for every Kw of power we use.
Honestly, what's not to like?
The more cheap power we can generate ourselves from renewables means we've less reliance on crazy men holding us to ransom with fossil fuel supply and less justification for our leaders and masters sitting back and allowing our wonderful privatised energy companies shareholders to continue screwing us for every Kw of power we use.
Honestly, what's not to like?
johnalison
Well-Known Member
There was a time when I was concerned about the energy cost of building them, plus ongoing costs and the cost of decommissioning, and was unable to get a satisfactory answer, or any answer at all because it seemed to enthusiasts that they must be a good thing. I believe that modern units now are much better and that they are probably worthwhile at a national level, though I still wonder if at least some of the great cost might not be better used in pursuing efficiency in other ways.
I'm not sure about cheap power, and the need for backup, maybe nuclear is evident, as well as the money spent to foreign manufacturers, but on balance, I do like them, perhaps as a stop-gap before better systems are available, such as solar or fusion power. The loss of remoteness in the North Sea for yachtsmen is to be regretted, though this is now of less concern to me personally.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
The good news is that in UK waters pleasure craft are generally allowed to sail through a windfarm, as long as keep a minimum of 50m from each turbine (extra restrictions apply during construction) - whereas many European countries do not permit this and require yachts to go around the perimeter.
Snowgoose-1
Well-Known Member
In our play boats, solar has been a revelation compared to wind . Perhaps wind farms are superior in the winter.
None of them would be there without massive subsidies though. Perhaps, in time, we won't notice them so much like we do pylons now.
None of them would be there without massive subsidies though. Perhaps, in time, we won't notice them so much like we do pylons now.
TomK
Member
I’m sure this comment will go down like a sack of spuds, but I don’t mind them at all.
In my view they make navigating easier. I learned to sail on rivers, so I get disorientated at sea. wind farms give me nice straight lines to follow!
In my view they make navigating easier. I learned to sail on rivers, so I get disorientated at sea. wind farms give me nice straight lines to follow!
WoodyP
Well-Known Member
I hope that someone will come and pick you up off a sandbank
Concerto
Well-Known Member
Recently I had solar panels fitted to my home. When the roof measured, we could fit 20 panels with a 9Kw battery and 8Kw inverter to export to the grid. However, when the plans were submitted for approval, they came back to reduce the panels to 16 and the inverter to 4Kw restricted to 2Kw. Our electrician changed the inverter to a 3.65Kw and this meant it was accepted at the full rating. The reason for the restriction was applied was the local cabling system could not cope with the potential load from all of the solar panels in the area. I wonder how many other people with solar panels are suffering the same problem.
potentillaCO32
Well-Known Member
I love them, coming up the east coast from ramsgate i find them a reassuring nav feature that you can see for miles. Bit like the two bradwell power station towers.
Plus all the old whingers on here from 20 years ago (just search for the threads) who claimed that renewables would never amount to anything have been proven wrong many times over. Mind you most of them have probably popped off this mortal coil by now.
Plus all the old whingers on here from 20 years ago (just search for the threads) who claimed that renewables would never amount to anything have been proven wrong many times over. Mind you most of them have probably popped off this mortal coil by now.
westhinder
Well-Known Member
Unless I misinterpret the chart the route to the Orwell from Nieuwpoort/Oostende remains unaffected, at least as long as the proposed new windfarms on the Belgian side of the shipping lanes are not there.
So far Belgian windfarms have been closed to all vessels and as far as I know there are no plans to change that. It remains to be seen if there will be corridors between them.
More about the planned windfarms and their windshadow effect on existing windfarms here:
Nieuwe windmolenparken in Noordzee hinderen oude: "Ze zullen 8,5 procent minder elektriciteit produceren"
Nieuwe windmolenparken in Noordzee hinderen oude: "Ze zullen 8,5 procent minder elektriciteit produceren" | VRT NWS: nieuws
