Wind power versus the nimbies?
Thursday 21st July 2011, 2:44PM BST.
An application by Commerce and Employment to test to see whether the prevailing winds in Guernsey are sufficient to drive turbines for generating electricity is an interesting one – particularly if the results prove positive.
To date, although it has not been tested in the States, conventional wisdom says that Guernsey is not prepared to have arrays of bladed pylons, no matter how suitable a location it might prove.
Whether that’s a short-sighted opinion depends on your point of view or, probably more importantly, where you live.
For while wind generation is one of the most reliable and provable of renewable energy technologies, it does tend to get a bad press and Guernsey is not noted for high levels of tolerance when it comes to nimbyism.
The test at Chouet headland is being funded by Commerce and Employment and carried out by the Guernsey Renewable Energy Forum on behalf of the Renewable Energy Group of C&E. With that background, if there is the possibility of wind generation working, there will be enthusiasm to make it happen.
From a Guernsey Electricity perspective, such turbines are the closest to plug and play in the sense that – unlike tidal power generation – the technology is well developed and available off the shelf. Decide how many kilowatts you want to produce and simply buy the required number of units.
That becomes slightly more complicated if the array has to be installed offshore, perhaps on the reefs off Rocquaine Bay, but is far from experimental. In turn, that brings the argument back to whether Guernsey is prepared to have rows of turbines or not.
On the basis that the average wind speeds are suitable, that will be a test not just of islanders’ attitudes to visual concerns but also their commitment to reducing Guernsey’s carbon footprint.
Generating significant amounts of electricity from the sea is probably – irrespective of Alderney’s optimism – 10 to 15 years away, while wind power could be operating within just two years.
If the tests prove positive, there will be some tough choices ahead.
And many who hope the trial turns out negative.
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I’m all in favour of a considered placement of turbines within the grounds or seas of Guernsey and consider them to be rather beautiful. I still fail to understand the “eyesore” argument provided by some nationally. Wind energy has a far smaller environmental impact than the Alderney race tidal proposal. Subjecting that amount of tidal turbine kit to an accelerated pace of entropy in an environment that is not wholly ‘ours’ or even understood very well is a concept that worries me, despite the huge possibility of power generation. Wind is well understood and has a visible charm. Go Green Guernsey!
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”
Wind energy has a far smaller environmental impact”
Dont ignore the impact of building these things, dont ignore the power they consume when there is no wind, and dont ignore the huge maintenance footprint wind energy requires.
Not saying it is all bad, but please factor in all issues before deciding on a path.
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Nobody,
Please could you enlighten me on the quantifiable impact of the three issues you have mentioned, particularly the second one.
And then perhaps it would be worth looking at the impact of a diesel power station, its parasitic load and the maintenance of the generators and associated plant.
And then comparing the two.
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It is an established fact that wind turbines generate power for only 20% of the day, max. So they need conventional power stations as back-up for the remaining 80%. And the environmental impact of construction of the WTs etc is considerable.
Tidal power is constant and does not need the back-up of power stations. And no views changed. And locally we have more tidal power available than in many other parts of the world.
Based on the facts the argument is clearly in favour of tidal, and tidal will soon be working off Alderney.
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Established by whom, Bryant? I presume you are taking about capacity factor which, for offshore wind is in fact usually around 28%.
Neither is it true that wind powers needs “conventional” back-up for the total remainder of the time. If you look up “capacity credit” you will discover that up to a penetration of about 10-15% or total generation, no extra conventional power is needed. This would be in a situation like the UK.
In Guernsey however, we have a different set-up with the cable link to France whereby we can draw the requisite amount of power up to a specified limit. Thus the capacity credit (back-up) argument is barely relevant.
Tidal power is not constant either. But it is predictable, more expensive than wind and in its infancy technologically.
I am not pro or anti wind, but I am anti sloppy arguments.
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Jones.
Talk of sloppy arguments. What produces the power that Guernsey draws from France?
The main problem with wind turbines is that the wind does not always blow. No blow = no power.
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As well as considering spending money on much needed alternative energy sources, we should also be looking at how we can reduce the energy that we need, which I am pretty sure would prove to be by far and away the most efficient use of our money.
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Bryant,
I would have thought you knew that but is a mixture of sources, predominantly nuclear. I believe that a new contract will purchase a mix on nuclear and hydro.
It is fairly obvious that if the wind does not blow, a wind turbine will not produce power, and that is factored in to the capacity factor and averaged over the year.
However the amount of power that Guernsey would produce from wind turbines is such a minuscule percentage of the French or EU grid output that it would not have any effect on ‘back-up, even allowing for the fact that nuclear has to run at a fixed output, unlike CCGT power stations for example.
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