South Coast Wind farm

[Aries]

See BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12504707

Now this will get in many peoples way.

 

[tom52]

A pointless, expensive act of enviromental vandalism.

 

[KristiferColumbus]

A pointless, expensive act of enviromental vandalism.

Agreed & you have got to wonder at a planning process that allows this sort of thing to go ahead?

PS:Sorry thought your link referred to this http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00dr092/Julian_Clegg_18_02_2011/

Interesting debate starts about 2:24 in & the bloke from "Thwart" at 2:44 was a bit of an eye opener.

 

[Seajet]

I'm quite a 'green' type of person, all for conservation ( one of my favourite films is 'Silent Running' which is about ecology and a ruined Earth, recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it ) but people who seek to make a living out of charity, with 'just causes' as a sideline, get on my tits no end !

 

[webcraft]

.
What on earth are you all moaning about? It's 8 miles offshore! The 'offshore' windfarm at Machrahanish is only a kilometre off the beach.

How far offshore is offshore?

- W

 

[Seajet]

Have you tried sailing Poole ( or Weymouth, the West etc ) to Hurst, or vice versa ?!

 

[Zagato]

I like the idea of wind farms in the right place Shame it has gone to a Dutch company, can't we do anything in this country now or at least give ourselves a chance to.

 

[Robin]

I just don't understand this at all. Aside from the ineffectiveness of the things except in attracting subsidies, to plonk one in deep water in this area is a maritime disaster in the making. Some years back they had oil rigs in this area drilling and guard zones established around them, despite this they had to have guard vessels on watch out there 24/7 to keep ships away and the radio traffic was quite colourful at times. So now there will be a whole area dotted with wind generators right in the path of ferry traffic Poole to France and the Channel Islands, in the Western Approaches from the Channel shipping lanes to the Solent and in waters deep enough that a ship will not run aground before hitting them in the event of power failure. Tides in the area run east/west at up to 5kts and will run through the wind farm.

Is this where the Scottish tugs will need to be stationed now they are being withdrawn from up there?

 

[Whiskey Bravo]

Useless.

Wind farms are the most useless pieces of environmental vandalism foisted on us, wherever they are sited. This is just the latest in a long list, stretching from the Scottish Isles and over the whole of the UK.

How our government has been conned into believing they are the answer is beyond belief. Either that or lots of people are getting backhanders in plain brown envelopes. Still, I suppose they've got to make up for their lost expenses swindle.

I wonder who will pay when the first tanker hits them in a winter storm? Yes, you've guessed, us. Not to mention the spillage of cargo/oil etc. It's like putting in concrete posts to seperate the lanes on the M1 and expecting cars to miss them.

 

[Twister_Ken]

It's a well known fact that this county is run by t*ts.

 

[Zagato]

It's a well known fact that this county is run by t*ts.

Wahay, can't wait to watch the next Prime Ministers question time

 

[Twister_Ken]

You'll love it, a right pair of t*ts, one either side of the despatch box.

 

[Robin]

Eneco was awarded a 279-square mile area of seabed by owner the Crown Estate in January 2010 and it has, after working on the site over the past year, decided to propose to use a 76-square mile section in the northern part of that area.

The company said it used feedback from public information days in November – including Bournemouth, Poole and Swanage – to help inform its decision.

Chris Sherrington, director of the project, said: “After comprehensively evaluating key aspects of the project in relation to wider stakeholder interests, we have chosen the most suitable location for the wind park.

“This is an important milestone in the lifetime of the development of this project and enables us to look to the future and consider wider impacts, such as the positive economic benefits our project could bring to the area.”

The park would be made up of between 150 and 240 turbines, depending on the energy generation needed and the type of turbines used. They would be sited at a depth of 38m.

Although the project has been largely welcomed, there has been some scepticism and calls to make sure it is placed as far out to sea as possible.

Now that the location has been put forward, a second round of consultation will take place. Eneco said it would be able to provide people with more detailed information this time round. The public will also get the chance to name the park.

If all goes to plan, building work could start in 2016, with the wind park fully up and running in 2019.

Alastair Dutton, head of Round 3, The Crown Estate, said: “We welcome today’s announcement from Eneco. It’s a positive step and an essential part of their commitment to engaging with local stakeholders.”

The green boundary marks the chosen location, the purple one where they have licence to build.

So quite apart from the obvious (to me at least) risks of shipping accidents, this is plonked right on the routes of boats (and ferries) going to and from France from either the western Solent or from Poole. It is also on the straight route of the inshore traffic headed south of Portland, St Albans and St Catherines IOW.

The only concern expressed locally so far that I have seen is for the possible effects on sea views from Bournemouth but it looks far enough off to avoid the clamour of protests which that would generate. Nobody so far however seems at all concerned about the risks to shipping or leisure boating.

Nuts!

 

[photodog]

And there is another big one going onto Hastings bank... off Brighton...

These are going into very deep water... so it will be interesting to see how they get on...

 

[KristiferColumbus]

I like the idea of wind farms in the right place Shame it has gone to a Dutch company, can't we do anything in this country now or at least give ourselves a chance to.

Did you actually listen to that link I provided & the bloke from "Thwart"?
How can anybody sustain an argument for even one wind turbine now?

 

[Quandary]

Wind farms are the most useless pieces of environmental vandalism foisted on us, wherever they are sited. This is just the latest in a long list, stretching from the Scottish Isles and over the whole of the UK.

How our government has been conned into believing they are the answer is beyond belief. Either that or lots of people are getting backhanders in plain brown envelopes. Still, I suppose they've got to make up for their lost expenses swindle.

I wonder who will pay when the first tanker hits them in a winter storm? Yes, you've guessed, us. Not to mention the spillage of cargo/oil etc. It's like putting in concrete posts to seperate the lanes on the M1 and expecting cars to miss them.

Thats ballox, the envelopes go the other way with oodles of cash inside, they are white, sent regularly and stamped OHMS, which is a pseudonym for you and me. The recipients are mainly French and Spanish so its a comfort to know most of our money is staying inside the EU.
Is it OK to plonk them on the beach at Macrahanish, Tiree and Islay but not off the south coast?
Another comfort is that the windfarm mast factory at Macrahanish is on its last production run after which the nonsense of Danes pretending to assemble them there will cease and we will be able to ship them in directly from Korea. You did want to contribute to the world economy, did you not?

 

[oldharry]

It is very curious that the official maps I have been working with on the MPA/MCZ project show a much smaller area, a bit further west, and closer inshore. I strongly suspect that the press have misunderstood the map they have been given, as part of the area shown is bang in the middle of a high protection MCZ on the Wight Barfleur reef off the Needles. As the MCZ order is already in place out there, it is HIGHLY unlikely they will be allowed anywhere near it.

The area we have been working with designated for the wind farm stretches roughly from a point East of Anvil roughly bearing 110, following the 6 mile line down the coast trending out to sea to a point around 8 miles off Lulworth - nothing like the map the press are showing.

Anyone interested to see the official map it is in PDF form on page 23 of the latest 'Joint working group meeting reports', bottom of the list on: http://finding-sanctuary.org/page/resources.html. Sorry, cant find a more accessible version!

The irregular oblong stretching across the tops of the square blocks from iA4 to iA12 off Anvil and St Albans, is the designated area we were shown. Considerably smaller. So who is right? The question being put to us was should this be a continuous zone, or broken up into separate areas for the windfarm? I pointed out it is right on the line of passage for boats heading out round the Bill from the Needles. 'Comment noted' was the reply.

 

[Robin]

Thats ballox, the envelopes go the other way with oodles of cash inside, they are white, sent regularly and stamped OHMS, which is a pseudonym for you and me. The recipients are mainly French and Spanish so its a comfort to know most of our money is staying inside the EU.
Is it OK to plonk them on the beach at Macrahanish, Tiree and Islay but not off the south coast? Another comfort is that the windfarm mast factory at Macrahanish is on its last production run after which the nonsense of Danes pretending to assemble them there will cease and we will be able to ship them in directly from Korea. You did want to contribute to the world economy, did you not?

I'm no fan of windfarms wherever they are as I believe we need to be making urgent investment in nuclear rather than nibbling at the edge with wind because it keeps the greenies happy. I would hate to see any windfarm spoiling any area of natural beauty because to me the lack of real benefits doesn't justify it. That said IF we MUST have the things then offshore has some merit in being in a free wind flow, but to put one offshore in deep water, as opposed to on sandbanks or in shallow waters, is pure lunacy. This is in a busy shipping area for inshore traffic plus it is in the direct route of the cross Channel ferries. We frequently met large vessels in this area that were presumably going to/from the eastern Solent via south of the IOW, plus smaller vessels going to/from the western Solent or Poole.

In small boat terms with the strong Channel tides running east or west at up to 5kts, crossing the Channel and passing uptide of such a windfarm will be interesting to say the least, whilst crossing downtide leaves you struggling to get back the distance lost. Passing through doesn't bear thinking about and poor visibility, very common here, is a the stuff of nightmares.

Not a problem for us now as we are off to cruise pastures new, but for this area to me it seems like madness.

 

[WestwardBound]

I read that yachts will be permitted to sail through the area.
Presumably this mean that the spacing between the individual turbines will be adequate.
Perhaps in conditions of moderate seas and good visibility this would be safe "enough".
Not that I'm at all qualified to comment, I haven't seen any of these offshore windfarms. I'm not sure yet whether I'd like to venture into one. I don't really like the sound of it much.
It does look like they will be very much in the way of a passage between Studland and Channel Islands.
Having said that these windfarms will produce useful amounts of power, in general I support their construction. No one is saying that they are a panacea.
Old Harry seems to have been stuck with representing all the boating interests on the south coast. I think he'll be owed more than one beer by the rest of us.
Thanks for that!

 

[Robin]

I read that yachts will be permitted to sail through the area.
Presumably this mean that the spacing between the individual turbines will be adequate.
Perhaps in conditions of moderate seas and good visibility this would be safe "enough". Not that I'm at all qualified to comment, I haven't seen any of these offshore windfarms. I'm not sure yet whether I'd like to venture into one. I don't really like the sound of it much.
It does look like they will be very much in the way of a passage between Studland and Channel Islands.
Having said that these windfarms will produce useful amounts of power, in general I support their construction. No one is saying that they are a panacea.
Old Harry seems to have been stuck with representing all the boating interests on the south coast. I think he'll be owed more than one beer by the rest of us.
Thanks for that!

I certainly wouldn't fancy sailing though such a massive chicane with a 5kt cross tide running!

As for 'useful amounts of power' the realities rarely if ever meet the claims. We need POWER not trickle chargers.