UFO-Blamed-For-Wrecked-Wind-Turbine

Well it seems that a wind turbine has been severely damaged in Lincolnshire and a UFO may be to blame! It strikes me as strange that intelligent life has navigated across the universe only to crash into a turbine! I would suggest that the turbine has had a major mechanical failure which has sheared a blade from the hub and the falling blade has damaged another one on the way down.

Would not like the estimated £250,000.00 bill for the repairs to the turbine! The gearbox and generator were completely fried as well!

Baydon-Meadow-Wind-Turbine-News-West-Berkshire-Council-To-Reject-The-Project!

Officers recommend that Baydon Meadow wind turbine be rejected ahead of key planning meeting

Officers will recommend that the application for a controversial wind turbine in Baydon Meadow should be refused at tonight's Western Area Planning Committee (November 21), despite a demand to find renewable energy sources.

Green campaigners are set to picket the offices of West Berkshire Council tonight to protest against the officers' decision.

The wind turbine which would be 81 meters in height and effectively provide the Lambourn Valley area with enough electricity to supply 640 typical UK homes, roughly one third of Baydon’s properties.

Applicant Matt Partridge who took his the application to appeal after it was rejected in 2004 is hoping for a better outcome and will be attending the meeting to fight the case for renewable energy.

He said the proposal has a lot of support locally despite uproar from the racing community who feel the rotary blades from the turbine will spook horses.

He said : “There have been 146 letters of support (all individual, unique letters) and only 65 letters of objection (including a petition). In my 14 years of developing onshore wind farms in the UK, I can safely claim that the Baydon Meadow proposal - for a project at the planning stage - enjoys both unusually strong support and unusually low levels of objection, although independent public attitude surveys have shown for well over a decade that wind energy enjoys 80% support from the general public.”

Planning officers will suggest that the application is refused because its impact on the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), the impact of the ‘shadow flicker’ on the surrounding residents and horses to the East of the proposed site and the physiological and physical impact on pilots flying into the adjacent airfield.

The recommendation to refuse the application also states that it has not been amended enough since

They have sat on their hands and pretended that by putting a couple of solar panels on the roof of the town hall they are doing their bit

Adrian Foster-Fletcher, Friends of the Earth

similar plans had failed at a recent appeal.

Despite letters of support received by the applicant from local residents including the Lambourn Sustainability Forum because of it would provide so much electricity through renewable energy, the proposal has caused outrage among the racing community.

The horse racing fraternity are outraged by an application it deems as being potentially dangerous to horses as the noise and flicker from its blades might spook the animals.

Champion Jockey Tony McCoy said: “It is an accident waiting to happen.”

Mr McCoy’s proposed training yard would be under the wind turbine, if it was approved, and he claims such a vital local amenity for the racing industry would be badly affected as trainers wouldn’t want to keep horses near rotating blades.

District councillor for Lambourn Gordon Lundie said he welcomes the debate but thinks the district council should lay down a policy for the construction of wind turbines.

But a polar bear is to be among environmental activists outside council officers tonight, urging councillors to vote through the proposal.

They believe the need for renewable energy outweighs the effect on the local landscape.

Local Friends of the Earth spokesman Adrian Foster-Fletcher said: “Four years ago they turned down this application saying that they were in favour of renewable energy but this planning application was in the wrong place.

“They said they would identify suitable sites, but since they have sat on their hands and pretended that by putting a couple of solar panels on the roof of the town hall they are doing their bit.”

“Despite 1,500 houses suffereing severe flooding, they still consider protecting the view of the countryside from the Membury Services cafeteria is a higher priority than doing their bit to fight climate change,” he added.

ABB-Is-To-Provide-Northhamptonshires-First-Wind-Farm

ABB has provided a comprehensive electrical infrastructure service for Enercon Gmbh to connect Northamptonshire’s first wind farm, at Burton Wold, into the local power distribution network operated by Central Networks, the E.ON UK company.

The project included making the individual cable links between 10 wind turbines, fitting out the site substation and commissioning the main 33kV cable that now feeds up to 20MW of renewable power into the Central Networks grid.Burton Wold wind farm started operation in May 2006.

The project was developed by Your Energy Ltd, is owned by Mistral Windfarms and operated by Your Energy Services Ltd – companies all operating under the Mistral Group. E.ON UK is buying the electricity output under a long term power purchase contract.The 71m diameter, 2MW, turbines at Burton Wold were supplied by Enercon Gmbh, one of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers.

ABB has developed a long standing relationship with Enercon in wind farm projects in mainland Europe, and this resulted in the award of the grid connection contract for this project.Over a four-month period from December 2005 to March 2006, ABB carried out all the customer electrical infrastructure works at Burton Wold including: - installing and connecting the 33kv turbine power cables, fibre optic telemetry systems; supplying and fitting out of the site substation, carrying out all on-site civil works connected with cable-trenching and erection of switchgear; testing and final commissioning.

Eas- Lancashire-Wind-Farm-Site-Tests

WIND farm planners have announced they hope to build a mast to take detailed measure-ments of the gusts on an East Lancashire moorland site.
German-based EnergieKontor UK Ltd hopes to build 24 giant wind turbines on the moors between Oswaldtwistle and Haslingden.
The company has begun a consultation process with local councils and residents about the proposals.

Soon they hope to start detailed measurements of the wind on the site. To do this they will build a meteorological mast which will collect data.
As well as measuring the velocity of the wind and discovering if the moors are suitable for a wind farm, it is also hoped the data will help with future designs of the site.
Project manager for Energie-Kontor UK Ltd Judith Cornfield said the company thinks there was the potential to build turbines with a height of up to 130 metres. She said a planning application will be submitted shortly to built the test mast.
There has been early opposition to the plans, Hynd-burn MP Greg Pope said: "I know this area very well and I don't fancy seeing it ruined by wind farms.
"The best places for windfarms are offshore, they're the windiest places and don't spoil the countryside."

Residents can write to EnergieKontor UK Ltd, Conyngham Hall, Bond End, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, HG5 9AY or email judith.cornfield@energiekontor.co.uk.

Wind-Power-Scheme-At-Portland-UK-May-Be-Re-Opened

PLANS to build wind turbines in Portland Harbour could be revived after the Government said it wanted to boost renewable energy.

The Energy White Paper says the country needs more offshore wind, wave and tidal power if it is to become a low-carbon economy.
It could mean that a controversial scheme to build 12 wind turbines off Portland, which has been shelved for two years, is re-visited.


E.ON UK, the company which has taken over the project from Powergen, says the new emphasis on renewable forms of energy would make it easier to build new wind farms.
A spokesman for the company has refused to rule out future developments off the Dorset coast.
He said: "The reason we stopped in the first place was because of the Olympic sailing events being awarded to Port-land and because there wasn't the legal framework in place for offshore wind farms in the area. In the future what the paper will do is bring a little bit more stability so a company like E.ON can make long-term investments.
"But the plans for Portland are shelved and the short answer is that there are no plans to re-start the process at the moment."

The scheme for 90-metre high offshore turbines in the harbour breakwater sparked opposition from many Portlanders.
Mayor of Portland, Tim Munro said: "As far as we know this hasn't totally gone away and in theory we could see them coming back with another bid.
"I think many people are in favour of wind energy but turbines need to be out to sea where the visual and noise are not as serious."
Plans by Portland Gas to build storage caverns beneath Portland have also been boosted by the Government announcement.

Andrew Hindle, managing director of Portland Gas, said: "There was nothing particularly new in the proposals but it is good from our point of view to know that the Government and its agencies back what we are doing."
The Government said the country faced two big energy challenges - climate change and maintaining stable and affordable energy supplies.

The plan is to triple the amount of renewable energy used to make electricity by the year 2015.
Other measures include increasing the use of nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions.

Wind-Power-Reaches-Milestone-In-UK

UK wind power reaches milestone The UK has become only the seventh nation in the world to have more than two gigawatts (GW) of operational wind power capacity.

The milestone was passed on Friday when the Braes O'Doune wind farm, near Stirling, began producing electricity.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling described it as a "major landmark" for the UK wind industry.
The government has set a target for 10% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2010.

The 36-turbine Braes O'Doune wind farm, built and operated by Airtricity, has a generating capacity of 72 megawatts (MW), enough to supply electricity to 45,000 homes in the area, according to the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA).
Maria McCaffery, BWEA's chief executive, said passing the 2GW mark, equivalent to two coal-fired power stations, was a "tremendous step forward".

"This is a day for celebrating the achievement of a significant milestone for our industry and underlining the position of wind energy as the true leader in the renewables revolution," she said.
Mr Darling said renewable electricity played a central role in the government's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

LEADING WIND ENERGY NATIONS
1. Germany - 20,622MW
2. Spain - 11,615MW
3. USA - 11,273MW
4. India - 6,053MW
5. Denmark - 3,136MW
6. Italy - 2,123MW
7. UK - 2,016MW
8. Netherlands - 1,564MW (Source: BWEA)

"This is a major landmark. In the last 20 months we have doubled the amount of wind generated electricity we have."
Mr Darling, who officially opened the Scottish wind farm, added that more green energy sources were needed.

"If you are serious about tackling climate change then we have got to be serious about making sure that we have more renewable forms of energy, including wind power.
"We want 20% of our electricity to come from these green sources (by 2020) and we are working hard on removing any barriers to achieving that aim."
Latest government figures show that 4.2% of the UK's electricity is generated by renewables, including wind, solar, hydro and biomass.

Onshore wind farms have proved to be controversial, with a number of high-profile projects facing fierce opposition from local residents.
Plans to create England's largest wind farm in Cumbria were thrown out last March after campaigners said it would ruin the landscape of the Lake District.
The £55m development would have seen 27 turbines, each 115 metres (377ft) high, erected at Whinash, near Kendal.

'Wildlife threat'

And proposals to create one of Europe's largest onshore wind farms on Lewis, the most northerly Hebridean island, have been challenged by wildlife groups.
They say the 181-turbine development will harm important peat bog habitat, and threaten wild bird populations.

However, local councillors on Thursday backed the £500m project, although a final decision on whether the scheme can go ahead is likely to be made by the Scottish Executive.

Despite having some of the best wind resources in Europe, the UK is still a long way behind the world's leading nation on wind power.
Germany has more than 20GW of wind energy capacity, 10 times as much as the UK.

HOW WIND TURBINES WORK
1. Wind causes blades to rotate
2. Shaft turns generator to produce electrical energy
3. A transformer turns this into high-voltage electricity
4. Electricity is transmitted via the power grid