seven days, turbine parts are loaded onto a giant ship in Hull docks: blades measuring 75 metres , 90-metre-high towers and 400-tonne nacelles, the masses of steel, fibreglass and gears that together transform wind into power. The ship brings its cargo 120km into the North Sea, where foundations wait in the waves. Workers erect four wind turbines, then the ship returns to shore for more parts.
Yet Britain has seen a boom. That is due in part to geography, with high winds and shallow seas, and in part to policy. Britain’s push for renewable power gained steam in 2008, when the Climate Change Act required greenhouse-gas emissions in 2050 to be at least 80% below their level in 1990. Politicians have favoured offshore wind, funding research and a giant facility in Northumberland to test blades. Most important, however, has been subsidy.
The rest of the industry has matured, too. Orsted, a Danish firm that is now the world’s biggest offshore-wind developer, cut its teeth in Britain. In 2014 it won contracts to build three big wind farms, including Hornsea One. “It allowed us to start industrialising the way we built,” says Henrik Poulsen, the firm’s boss. Orsted made bulk purchases of turbines and cables, and refined each stage of development, from site planning to maintenance.
But dead sea life is now coming up on Brighton Beaches
There’s a reason Britain is known as Old Blighty.
cc Langebaan
Eat bugs and live in a sewer pipe for twice the regular price white oppressor, we must save the planet for the black & brown children who will replace us. Fare well UK, you had a good run.
Really? What about UK consumers paying double the world price for 4th generation nuclear power stations that don't even function yet? Or Fake Regulators that exist for the benefit of suppliers- not consumers. It prevented free market economics from being applied for consumers!
Could the friction produced by wind increase global warming? With windmills not equally distributed over the world, could the world turn some degrees over its axle? Windmills by acting like some big sails, could they accelerate the rotation of our planet?
Sod the markets. Over focus on markets has failed UK. Markets do not actively balance a country's balance of payments. The state has a role. We need to support local energy and food production. We also need to retain and grow domestic manufacturing.
I propose that people start measuring cost in terms of energy units expended by individual humans. Lord knows we all have it better than our ancestors did, in terms of the amount of work it takes to 'earn' a living. In fact, some people expend very LITTLE energy. (inequality)
UK still generates 60% of its power from non-clean sources. Canada only generates 20% of its power from non-clean sources. France and Canada the model that should be view, except that Canada needs to eliminate its carbon tax.
At what cost to fishing?
alllibertynews Helping the 2% Wind Power contribution to our energy demands ?
globalnative54 💚💚💚
i wonder how salt water affects the turbines it must damage it eventually