More offshore wind developers join Carbon Trust scheme

Offshore wind farms are set to be a major source of domestic and business electricity in years to come, but they are one of the biggest logistical challenges for electricity companies.

Now offshore wind developers are joining forces with the Carbon Trust to help drive down the costs of the necessary technology.

The Carbon Trust recently announced that its Offshore Wind Accelerator, designed to bring costs down, had two new members – Mainstream Renewable Power and Statkraft – taking its total membership to seven.

The economic growth potential in offshore technology is massive, and it is hoped the Offshore Wind Accelerator programme will help to address the engineering challenges it presents.

Read the full story at Energy Efficiency News

The noise from wind turbines is causing some concern.

Wind turbines installed at a New Forest primary school to help cut its business electricity costs and carbon emissions are causing problems for people living close by because of the noise they make.

The whirring of the turbine blades is keeping a couple who live next to the school awake, and now they are keeping records of the disturbance to feed back to the district council.

The wind turbine was installed in the grounds of the school as part of a green extension, and since it started operating in April it has, in conjunction with solar panels, provided 20 per cent of the school’s electricity and saving more than £300 on business electricity costs. It has also fed back electricity into the National Grid during school holidays.

This sounds like a green business energy success story – but the Passmores, a couple living next door to the school, wouldn’t agree, claiming their sleep has been disturbed and they are no longer able to use their garden because of the noise the turbine makes.

However, the school themselves claim they are not disturbed by the noise and are puzzled by how much it bothers the neighbours.

This raises some important issues for businesses who want to go the self-generation route to saving business energy costs. Wind power is a popular choice for green energy, but issues with noise could potentially lead to problems with planning permission for businesses who want to generate their own electricity this way.

Read the full story in the Bournemouth Echo

Image credit – CCA: A few wind turbines by vaxomatic

Most of the country has been basking in hot, sunny weather over the last couple of weeks. But for the islanders of Eigg in the Inner Hebrides, the lack of rain in North West Scotland is causing problems for domestic and business electricity customers.

Eigg boasts of being the “world’s greenest island” and, thanks to its wind and water power, has cut its carbon emissions by 30 per cent since 2008. More than 95 per cent of the island’s energy was generated from renewable sources

However, now the island’s 20 business electricity customers and 45 houses are on strict electricity rationing after the hot and calm weather has dried up the burns that power the hyrdo electricity turbines and the lack of wind means the giant wind turbines stand motionless.

This means that businesses including the island’s tea rooms have had to adapt their practices – however, it does not faze the Eigg residents.

While green energy sceptics will be quick to mock the situation in Eigg, the islanders continue to develop their green way of living. Whether their alternative sources of energy will be adopted by the wider community remains to be seen.

Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Wind turbines of 500ft tall and 475ft in diameter will be built in Britain in the next few years, according to a report in the daily Telegraph.

A 10 megawatt machine, christened ‘Britannia’, is scheduled to be built off the coast of Northumberland by 2012. However, this could be just the first of many such machines – with a weeping circle that is more than 500ft wide. Such offshore turbines are seen as a solution to meeting growing domestic and business electricity needs.

Meanwhile, on the same day the newspaper reported that many of Britain’s inshore landscapes will be forever altered by new pylons being built to transport this electricity to homes and businesses.

The National Grid is planning an expansion of high-voltage pylons and cables so that the green energy can be connected to the grid. However, overground pylons could run through areas of outstanding beauty and many critics favour underground cables – which could cost almost 20 times as much to lay, a cost that many fear will be passed on to domestic and business electricity customers.

You can read about the new offshore turbines here

And the National Grid’s pylon plan here.