stilldellin Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 But there again Kavi, is it not the case that they get some strong winds up there ! For anyone who is wondering, the output from the three new " high grade " Foula wind turbines is a big fat zero and likely to be for some considerable time. talk about money down the drain.. mutter... mutter..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 is that not down to a wire problem not the turbines. you will get falts in any machines. they will be insured. the odd collaped turbine does not mean they all will fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilldellin Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 ^ Are you saying Foula electricity supply is running on diesels because of one collapsed turbine and a broken wire ? Could this not also happen to the mighty VE ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 ^ Are you saying Foula electricity supply is running on diesels because of one collapsed turbine and a broken wire ? Could this not also happen to the mighty VE ? yes parts could go off grid but so do the main power stations. any faulty equipment gets fixed and its back to normal. if your car brakes down you fix it you dont give up because its gone wonky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 ^ Are you saying Foula electricity supply is running on diesels because of one collapsed turbine and a broken wire ? Could this not also happen to the mighty VE ? yes parts could go off grid but so do the main power stations. any faulty equipment gets fixed and its back to normal. if your car brakes down you fix it you dont give up because its gone wonky. If my car brakes need fixing then granted, I have to wait at the most 1-2 weeks for the parts and then my Mechanic gets the old Pug back on the road pronto. If windfarms develop fault, they are offline for a damn sight longer! Don't count on Insurers being that helpful these days either. You may well be looking at a long drawn out affair whereby product liability comes into play with designers, installers, turbine manufacturers, the turbine manufacturers' suppliers and so on. Edit: And business interruption and loss of profit isn't usually covered, if my memory serves me correctly, under English law. Given that the companies forming the Viking Partnership are registered English companies and many Insurers are also English, this could result in a loss of profit - or does anyone think the project will be self-insuring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crofter Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Don't count on Insurers being that helpful these days either. You may well be looking at a long drawn out affair whereby product liability comes into play with designers, installers, turbine manufacturers, the turbine manufacturers' suppliers and so on. Edit: And business interruption and loss of profit isn't usually covered, if my memory serves me correctly, under English law. Given that the companies forming the Viking Partnership are registered English companies and many Insurers are also English, this could result in a loss of profit - or does anyone think the project will be self-insuring? While I agree with you that insurance is generally a scam, this is what it says on the vestas website. No idea how much this insurance costs though... To increase business case certainty and protect the wind power plant against unforeseen risks, a special insurance policy for wind turbines, as well as wind power plants is available for Vestas customers at selected S&P A rated insurance companies. The insurance cover is available in combination with service agreement AOM 4000 and is tailored to the specific details of a customer’s agreement with us. The insurance covers in excess of our standard warranty. It includes physical damage and covers up to 12 months’ loss of production as well. Unlike traditional insurance, where the yearly premium is set amongst other things according to how ‘unlucky’ one have been the previous years, with our insurance the premium is the same for all five years. Furthermore, the policy is irrevocable for five years from the insurance company’s side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crofter Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Anyone know the current output from the Foula wind turbines recently installed at great cost ? What grade were they ? How many people live on Foula? 30 maybe? They would surely manage on a kilowatt each, and they already have a lot of solar panels and a hydro scheme so they might not need that much more from wind? But you could buy a lot of diesel with the money saved by not putting up a windmill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dratsy Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Well thats the first 5 years insurance sorted but what about the next 20? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilldellin Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 ^ Are you saying Foula electricity supply is running on diesels because of one collapsed turbine and a broken wire ? Could this not also happen to the mighty VE ? yes parts could go off grid but so do the main power stations. any faulty equipment gets fixed and its back to normal. if your car brakes down you fix it you dont give up because its gone wonky. If my car was to break down within warranty I certainly would not be too happy waiting 5 months plus to get it fixed as in the case of Foula. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PressedCurdsOfMilk Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Projected income from VE: £900,000,000/25 years = 36 million/year* That would be impressive. I'm unclear about what this £900 million or £930 million as stated in this article actually means. You refer to it as "Projected income from VE". This infers profit and a huge potential income to the charitable trust. VE refer to it as "expected total income of £930 million to Shetland". This infers revenue. I suspect the latter and a struggle to eke out any sort of decent profit (after repayment of £685 million build costs and covering operations etc). [edit]Sorry this is purely uninformed guesswork[/edit], I would be glad of the facts if anyone knows the actual meaning of the projected figures. [That said, I object to Viking Energy and believe the environmental and social cost is too higher price to pay for such a large project to go ahead.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances144 Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Sandness windmill broke and the inside is corroded apparently. Cost to fix - £5k, I was told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dratsy Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 £685million borrowed at commercial rates of say 3.5%(and I doubt they'll get anything like as good a rate) over 25 years don't leave a hell of a lot of profit. Totals £200 million is looking like the better bet all the time. although I expect gas prices to fall over the next few years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keetiebairdie Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Both the VE project and the proposed cuts in services to our needy community are both long lasting and far reaching. Surely there must be another way? Where is that think tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PressedCurdsOfMilk Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 £685million borrowed at commercial rates of say 3.5%(and I doubt they'll get anything like as good a rate) over 25 years don't leave a hell of a lot of profit. Totals £200 million is looking like the better bet all the time. although I expect gas prices to fall over the next few years Given that VE are in a 50:50 partnership with SSE, their share of the costs on these figures could actually be £342.5 million. If the commercial rate you suggest is likely then that could cost about £520 million over 25 years. This would leave £410 million, if the £930 million prediction is likely to be achieved, which isn't going to cover £23 million for 23 years and still needs to cover other costs e.g operating, maintenance, company costs, the 10% shareholders, community funds, [edit]HMP, decommissioning[\edit] etc. Still eking it out, never mind the unknowns like the actual build costs and the final agreed prices on production. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilldellin Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 ^^ the actual build costs Yes, exactly Ched and where are they going to find someone to tender for it. possibly up to eighty 30-tonne dumptrucks required for starters, plant that will be lying idle for a considerable part of each year it takes to build.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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