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Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy


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My thinking is why go for something with such a high visual impact when an alternative may be available.

 

For me.. im not overly keen with the thought of windfarms.. but at the moment I except they are better than nothing.

 

If proved that wave generators can work for us.. then I would personally rather follow this route on the basis of the lower visual impact it will have on us.

 

I can understand windfarms have there uses inland where wave power isnt a feasable option.. but here where traditionally we have lived off the sea rather than wind.. It feels more of an appropriate route to take.

 

I know turbines are reasonable tried and tested of renewable energy. and the safer route.. so I dont sea how going for them is more of a risk than going for wave generators ;)

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Please correct me if i'm wrong but isn't the only reason for the windfarm in Shetland the financial rewards available. This is obviously dependant on securing funding for a cable to the mainland because without this the project isn't viable (is my understanding correct?). Would a tidal wave project be able to justify a cable to the mainland? Would the financial rewards be similar?

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A cable is only worth price of installation if power being generated is great enough to justify it. It doesn't really matter what is generating the power, so a tidal power system would simply have be of a similiar power output scale to the proposed windfarm.

 

Having said that, there could be a trade off. Reduce the size of the windfarm and generate the rest of the power needed to justify the cable by other means, tidal or wave.

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It doesn't really matter what is generating the power ...

It does !

The more modern the overall technical approach is the easier it is to argue in favour of start up subsidies for a new industry. A few couple of years ago the wind turbines over here and including the grid connections were financed from public money including EU subsidies; nowadays the development of new sites and the investments are more or less left to private financing from the highly profitable industry itself. :wink:

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It does !

The more modern the overall technical approach is the easier it is to argue in favour of start up subsidies for a new industry. A few couple of years ago the wind turbines over here and including the grid connections were financed from public money including EU subsidies; nowadays the development of new sites and the investments are more or less left to private financing from the highly profitable industry itself.

 

I didn't mean to suggest that any form power generation is acceptable, i was just trying to say that a cable has to be worth putting in, in the first place.

 

If tidal power is to be used, it needs to be of such scale that a cable is worth laying. Although you are suggesting that more government money may be forthcoming to lay a cable for use with a newer technology than wind turbines, ie tidal or wave power? Interesting, if correct. Especially since the government has set itself ambitious targets on the use of renewables. I would think they would be subsidising any project that could help them reach their targets, regardless of which type of renewable used.

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I think tidal power would be absolutely ideal here in shetland, there are many sites north, east and west, there would always be some of the generators operational at any one time. The wind might fall calm, but one thing you can always be 110% certain of is the tide. Places like Bluemull sound and Linga sound must contain mind boggling amounts of energy, if harnessed properly in similar fashion to a hydro dam, using causeways etc.

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I saw on the news over here that they were planning to install tidal power generators under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco. Both wave and tidal power have been researched since the 70's, but have been neglected by authorities and people with ample funds. I have read about research projects both in Norway and Scotland which have made considerable progress before being halted due to funds. It has taken much longer to find comercially viable technology because of that. But if the Americans are going for it I suspect we'll see such a power plant generating both power and money within a few years.

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Newspaper quote:_

 

ELECTRIC POWER FROM SEA WAVES

 

A company has been making a series of experiments in Los Angeles in which the force of the waves of the Ocean is used to generate electric power for light & other purposes. A 350' wharf made of metal extends into the ocean with the generating plant placed at the end. It includes 3 floats connected with vertical hydraulic compressors, which in turn are connected with a storeage pressure tank. The movement of the waves alternatively raises & lowers the floats pumping water from the reservoir into the storeage pressure tank, where the water is subjected to sufficient pressureto drive it out with great force through a water wheel. This water motor operates the dynamo & the water which has passed from the water motor flows into the reservoir , to be used again.......... etc etc.

 

This quote is taken from the Shetland Times dated January 1899

I repeat January 1899 - This was 50-60 years before Shetland saw electric power so this incredible story must have been equivalent to hearing that men had landed on the moon when read by people living at that time in Shetland in houses with earth floors & thatch.

 

But it makes you think how history would have been changed if this technology had been developed further, perhaps no global warming because of reduced pollution, no exploitation of the oil resources of poor countries by multinationals etc etc

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Newspaper quote:_

 

ELECTRIC POWER FROM SEA WAVES

 

A company has been making a series of experiments in Los Angeles in which the force of the waves of the Ocean is used to generate electric power for light & other purposes. A 350' wharf made of metal extends into the ocean with the generating plant placed at the end. It includes 3 floats connected with vertical hydraulic compressors, which in turn are connected with a storeage pressure tank. The movement of the waves alternatively raises & lowers the floats pumping water from the reservoir into the storeage pressure tank, where the water is subjected to sufficient pressureto drive it out with great force through a water wheel. This water motor operates the dynamo & the water which has passed from the water motor flows into the reservoir , to be used again.......... etc etc.

 

This quote is taken from the Shetland Times dated January 1899

I repeat January 1899 - This was 50-60 years before Shetland saw electric power so this incredible story must have been equivalent to hearing that men had landed on the moon when read by people living at that time in Shetland in houses with earth floors & thatch.

 

But it makes you think how history would have been changed if this technology had been developed further, perhaps no global warming because of reduced pollution, no exploitation of the oil resources of poor countries by multinationals etc etc

 

That's the most stunning thing i've seen all week, and that includes the "top gear space mission" and the fantastic bathymetric maps you posted in the troot fishing thread, clanchief. Cheers!

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To be fair about it, this is exactly the same article posted earlier (page 6).

So 'repeats' rather than 'deepens'.

It is only my opinion but I doubt the RSPB can be bought so easily. They will object to the Shetland project in a heartbeat if it is unnacceptable to the ornithologists.

However, so far they are happy with the approach we have taken.

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David, I really do hope so, that you are right. Otherwise it would be desastrous for the RSPB and its international reputation.

But when I have a closer look at some continental projects that have been cancelled within the last two years and according to the EU Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds or where the industry has withdrawn from application for planning permission (according to judgements based on that same regulation as for the two offshore parks in the Baltics off the island of Rügen) then there is really no need for the RSPB to intervene in the Shetland case. It would not get permission in the end anyway.

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  • admin changed the title to Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

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