The Hidden Glasgow Forums

I drove along the Eaglesham moor road the other day and got a pic, the road is single track, with passing places, there wasn't really a good place to stop to take pics. windy as hell BTW

Fantastic bits of engineering and impressive though they are, it should be remembered that despite our current government’s hype, this farm currently has a total capacity of about 320MW, which is only an 1/8th of Longannet and can only generate when the wind blows.

I think wind has its place but only as part of a diversified generation portfolio. Where it should be, is offshore where it doesn’t gobble up land and the wind is more reliable.

Oh yes and surly the machines could be designed and built in Scotland?

cell wrote:Fantastic bits of engineering and impressive though they are, it should be remembered that despite our current government’s hype, this farm currently has a total capacity of about 320MW, which is only an 1/8th of Longannet and can only generate when the wind blows.

I think wind has its place but only as part of a diversified generation portfolio. Where it should be, is offshore where it doesn’t gobble up land and the wind is more reliable.

Oh yes and surly the machines could be designed and built in Scotland?

The worlds finest wind generators are built in Ayrshire by Proven. I haven't checked their range recently but I think they concentrate on the light commerial/domestic markets - So schools, farms and stuff.

Windcrofting will certainly enhance things once these addle brain farmers get their heads around the benefits, I mean the wind seldom stops blowing in these parts who wouldn't want the lure of free electricity plus enough income from supplying the over generation back to the grid to make the payments on the turbine.

This is also fairly new technology, or should that be there is still a very long way to go in the methods of exploiting nature to harness energy with burning stuff.

Just picking up on the farming aspect of the above posts - is there any reason why the land beneath/ between wind turbines can't support cattle or sheep or crops? I appreciate you'd need to leave access for servicing but there seems to be a lot of fallow land otherwise.

Would the swoosh scare the beasts or would they get used to it in time?

The land underneath isn't technically fallow, it's moorland. Heather covered, biologically diverse, scottish wildlife inhabited. Probably owned by the forestry commision who would be happier with a few wind turbines rather than more of Glasgow.

As for sustaining farmstock beneath these behemoths. I don't see that generally it wouldn't be possible, one concern might be that when the brakes are applied during high winds the noise levels might be unfavourable for farm animals. The smaller turbines that a small holder or the likes would house would probably be positioned away from livestock but undoubtedly it would be far quieter.

I’m pretty sure all the big ones that are being built these days use imported turbines and towers, I’ve seen them coming in on boats on the Clyde http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=764&start=210#p157481 and at Grangemouth. Transportation to the sites is by very long trailers which they seem to move at night, I’ve seen them parked up during the day on the A80 at Cumbernauld. There was a Danish owned factory down at Campbletown but I know it was closed for a while and I’m not sure of its current status. Howdens in Glasgow experimented with them for a while in the 80’s, you used to be able to see a couple dismantled ones from the train in the back of their Scotland street works. At that time they weren’t very fashionable, no development cash and no green energy subsidies.

Another classic case of our governments failing to invest in new technology in which we could have been world leaders. However they are quite willing to make us pay a premium on our electricity by forcing supply companies to purchase a certain % of “green” power which costs more than gas or coal generated electricity.

dave3009 wrote:

cell wrote:Fantastic bits of engineering and impressive though they are, it should be remembered that despite our current government’s hype, this farm currently has a total capacity of about 320MW, which is only an 1/8th of Longannet and can only generate when the wind blows.

I think wind has its place but only as part of a diversified generation portfolio. Where it should be, is offshore where it doesn’t gobble up land and the wind is more reliable.

Oh yes and surly the machines could be designed and built in Scotland?

The worlds finest wind generators are built in Ayrshire by Proven. I haven't checked their range recently but I think they concentrate on the light commerial/domestic markets - So schools, farms and stuff.

Windcrofting will certainly enhance things once these addle brain farmers get their heads around the benefits, I mean the wind seldom stops blowing in these parts who wouldn't want the lure of free electricity plus enough income from supplying the over generation back to the grid to make the payments on the turbine.

This is also fairly new technology, or should that be there is still a very long way to go in the methods of exploiting nature to harness energy with burning stuff.

Proven do an excellent range of machines, but their maximum seems to be 0.015MW, (You would need about two hundred thousand to replace a single Longannet) which is alright for a hippy or farmer and his kettle but a drop in the ocean for our needs as a country. Personally I think everyone who has the space should have one of these, if only to stick it to the power companies, but they are not cheap and take a long time to pay back any investment.

20 years I think is the claimed return, you still need to be tapped in the grid but if you have a two way flow you sell back your over production and only use the grid when your generator is off and you've used up your stored power.

Whatever the arguments , the turbines are striking . We had a drive over Eaglesham Moor this afternoon

Dunwan Ironage hillfort with modern additions

hillfort

turbines with heat haze

bog cotton

black and white

out of focus

more turbines

more

heat haze

haze

even more turbines

more

I took a wander up to Whitelees yesterday (and have the lobster complexion to prove it):

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k221/arsemagic/

I followed the road out Eaglesham as far as the house marked 'Carrot' on the OS map, followed the marked path across the field at the back of the house, then took the forestry road up the hill, which spits you out roughly in the middle of the whole thing.

The scale of it is pretty intimidating. I certainly never fully appreciated it till I stood almost directly underneath a turbine and looked up. This photo is pretty rubbish, but it shows the access door and steps at the bottom for some idea of the scale:


The ground has been pretty badly churned up in most parts, but they have planted wads of bog cotton and other vegetation, and the bulk of the area was monocultured Forestry Commission plantation anyway. One potential problem I saw was a spontaneous fire breaking out near one of the turbines:

The bog and forests all around were tinder dry, and a spark or two could set the whole thing off at this time of year.

And the views from Corse Hill are spectacular! Looking north you can see a few Bens poking up above Dumgoyne, west see Arran and Ailsa Craig to the SW, Darvel TV transmitter is clear to the south and Ayrshire beyond. And of course the whole of the Clyde Valley spread out.

It's definitely worth a look, but as Brigit says doing it on foot or bike needs a bit of prep. The now, that means sun cream and plenty water. But I could see it being hellish up there in early spring or autumn if the weather turns.

Kennedy Heroin wrote:

Now thats what I've been waiting to see..... fantastic

Funny wind turbine link.
Bat gets batted by turbine blade. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsTg6PK3CTE

I think the wind farm looks smashing. I drive past it on the way home from work and now come off the M77 raceway so that I can go along the moor road. Havn't ventured out of the car yet but I'm looking forward to the visitors centre opening.

You can see the turbines from most of east kilbride and some people complain about their asthetic appeal. Personally I think that they look quite majestic and ten times better than pylons and lets be honest, you never really see those unless you look for them.
This must be the same thing that happened when pylons started appearing on the horizon during the 40s/50s (or whenever that might have been)

I've just realised that that last post might have seemed a bit cruel. I totally understand that bats are protected and in no way condone hurting innocent animals. Neds however are free game.

eob wrote:Neds however are free game.

The blades are quite high up so we'll need a trebuchet to launch them.

or a trampoline

Whitelee panorama photostitch from last weekend


It's a bit ropey at the joins because the things kept turning

absurdly large