UPDATE: Hmm. Industry Body says it is all false? It’s a strange one. The original link has vanished from The Irish Examiner, and a pro renewables site SeeNews which covered their story has disappeared their copy too [cached here, screencap copy too]. SeeNews has posted an update which totally contradicts the news. Did The Irish Examiner get it wrong? Removing the story suggests they did, but they have not issued a correction yet. News of the update comes not from the court, but from the Irish Wind Energy Association, not exactly an impartial source. The IWEA flatly says that no one admitted liability, no families were forced from their homes, and there was no judgement or ruling? Yet the original story claimed all these things.
Full Story Here UPDATED. Big dollars at stake: Irish families win court case against wind farm noise (or not)
Monday, 19 December 2016
Monday, 12 December 2016
Families forced from homes due to wind farm noise win court case
A number of families in Co Cork who were forced to leave their homes because of noise from a nearby wind farm have won a significant case in the High Court this week.
The families claim they have been severely impacted by noise since the wind farm began operating in 2011.
This is the first action of its kind in Ireland and may now open many wind farm developers to the prospect of legal challenges from families in similar situations.
advertisement
The case was taken against wind turbine manufacturer Enercon who have accepted full liability for causing nuisance to seven families who live up to 1km from the wind farm.
The case will return to the High Court in 2017 to discuss punitive damages.
Promises in Government over the last four years to introduce planning regulations regarding wind turbines have failed to materialise.
According to out-dated guidelines, turbines may be built 500m from homes. In many cases, including this, wind turbines have been built closer than 500m.
A spokesperson for Wind Aware Ireland said: “There now is a possibility for multiple legal actions against wind farms right around the country.
"The legal implications for the wind industry are significant. The use of inadequate and out-dated planning guidelines may come back to haunt the industry, planning authorities and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE).”
On election, Minister Naughten promised that new planning guidelines would be in place within 3 to 6 months of the formation of the new government.
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Wind Turbines Use Electricity From The Grid
An educational post on Facebook
John Curtis Most people do not realise that these turdbines use a lot of parasitic power when they are not generating any output. I looked in to this many moons ago and attach below what I was able to ascertain. At that time I wrote to three of the big turdbine manufacturers to ask them if I was correct in my assessment but answer came there none - from which I believe that the actual situation may well be worse than my assessment.
_____________________________
Wind turbine parasitic consumption.
I have been considering effects of parasitic power consumption by wind turbines, by which I mean power that they must use to stay functional even if there is no wind. The manufacturers do not give detailed information but I believe we can assess what is needed by using common sense.
Actual figures may vary from what I am assuming, but I do not think that I am far off. If you have any other ideas I would be very pleased to have them. Below is a representative list of equipment and systems that require electric power, together with assumed power consumptions. I have assumed a basic 2 megaWatt for this study.
Yaw mechanism to turn the rotor into the wind. 20kW
Pitch mechanism to adjust the blade angle to the wind 15kW
Lights, controllers, communication, sensors, data collection, etc. 10kW
Heating the blades during winter. 250Kw
Heating/cooling and dehumidifying the nacelle. 10kW
Oil heater, pump, cooler and filtering system of the gearbox 25kW
Hydraulic brake to lock the blades when the wind is too strong. 5kW
Thyristors for power conditioning and connection. 25kW
Magnetizing the stator to keep the rotor speed constant 25kW
Using the generator as a motor to help blades start to turn when wind speed is low or, as many suspect, to create the illusion the facility is producing electricity when it is not, particularly during site tours. It also spins the rotor shaft and blades to prevent warping when there is no wind. 50Kw.
TOTAL Installed. 435kW.
Not all items will be used at the same time, although they may be. However, we can generously assume 50% usage, for a parasitic consumption of approximately 215 kW.
Turbine rated wind speed is 12 mps (Meters per second). Cut in speed is 4 mps. Rated power is 2 mW. Power varies as cube of wind speed.
Therefore Power at 4 mps is 2,000,000/3 x 3 x3 = 74kW
Nett output is 74 – 215 = -141kW
Power at 5mps is 144kW Nett output is -71kW
Power at 6mps is 250kW
Nett output is +35kW
This shows that the machine does not start to produce useful power until wind speeds reach around 6mps, assuming that 35kW from a 2mW machine can be considered as useful.
Published figures for average wind speeds locally (Banbury area. It will vary depending on actual location) at masthead height are 6mps.
There are subsequent losses such as transformer inefficiencies and transmission losses to take power from turbine to grid. We can assume approximately 6% to 15%, depending on the type of equipment and transmission line lengths.
What this says is that the turbine is virtually useless even at average wind speeds and that we need considerably more than average in order to get any useful power output. On average we can expect to power about 12 electric kettles. Not bad for an investment of around £2.4 million!!
Note that the turbine ‘sells’ its power based on metering at the output unit and thus avoids the effects of transmission losses. Also, there is no charge made for power that is consumed when there is low or no output. In other words, charges are made based on gross output, not net output.
And we do not even start to save CO2 emissions until we reach average wind speeds. What a huge con job is being foisted on us all.
John Curtis Most people do not realise that these turdbines use a lot of parasitic power when they are not generating any output. I looked in to this many moons ago and attach below what I was able to ascertain. At that time I wrote to three of the big turdbine manufacturers to ask them if I was correct in my assessment but answer came there none - from which I believe that the actual situation may well be worse than my assessment.
_____________________________
Wind turbine parasitic consumption.
I have been considering effects of parasitic power consumption by wind turbines, by which I mean power that they must use to stay functional even if there is no wind. The manufacturers do not give detailed information but I believe we can assess what is needed by using common sense.
Actual figures may vary from what I am assuming, but I do not think that I am far off. If you have any other ideas I would be very pleased to have them. Below is a representative list of equipment and systems that require electric power, together with assumed power consumptions. I have assumed a basic 2 megaWatt for this study.
Yaw mechanism to turn the rotor into the wind. 20kW
Pitch mechanism to adjust the blade angle to the wind 15kW
Lights, controllers, communication, sensors, data collection, etc. 10kW
Heating the blades during winter. 250Kw
Heating/cooling and dehumidifying the nacelle. 10kW
Oil heater, pump, cooler and filtering system of the gearbox 25kW
Hydraulic brake to lock the blades when the wind is too strong. 5kW
Thyristors for power conditioning and connection. 25kW
Magnetizing the stator to keep the rotor speed constant 25kW
Using the generator as a motor to help blades start to turn when wind speed is low or, as many suspect, to create the illusion the facility is producing electricity when it is not, particularly during site tours. It also spins the rotor shaft and blades to prevent warping when there is no wind. 50Kw.
TOTAL Installed. 435kW.
Not all items will be used at the same time, although they may be. However, we can generously assume 50% usage, for a parasitic consumption of approximately 215 kW.
Turbine rated wind speed is 12 mps (Meters per second). Cut in speed is 4 mps. Rated power is 2 mW. Power varies as cube of wind speed.
Therefore Power at 4 mps is 2,000,000/3 x 3 x3 = 74kW
Nett output is 74 – 215 = -141kW
Power at 5mps is 144kW Nett output is -71kW
Power at 6mps is 250kW
Nett output is +35kW
This shows that the machine does not start to produce useful power until wind speeds reach around 6mps, assuming that 35kW from a 2mW machine can be considered as useful.
Published figures for average wind speeds locally (Banbury area. It will vary depending on actual location) at masthead height are 6mps.
There are subsequent losses such as transformer inefficiencies and transmission losses to take power from turbine to grid. We can assume approximately 6% to 15%, depending on the type of equipment and transmission line lengths.
What this says is that the turbine is virtually useless even at average wind speeds and that we need considerably more than average in order to get any useful power output. On average we can expect to power about 12 electric kettles. Not bad for an investment of around £2.4 million!!
Note that the turbine ‘sells’ its power based on metering at the output unit and thus avoids the effects of transmission losses. Also, there is no charge made for power that is consumed when there is low or no output. In other words, charges are made based on gross output, not net output.
And we do not even start to save CO2 emissions until we reach average wind speeds. What a huge con job is being foisted on us all.
Friday, 4 November 2016
Infrasound And Low Frequency Noise
Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise
Seminar presented by Dr Mariana Alves-Pereira at Massey University, New Zealand, on October 13, 2016.
Seminar presented by Dr Mariana Alves-Pereira, from the Lusófona University in Lisbon, Portugal.
Increasing technological development is putting communities at risk due to insidious low frequency noise and vibration. Vulnerable at risk groups include those working in high exposure environments, such as airline pilots and other transportation industries, and those living in close proximity to industrial scale installations.
Alves-Pereira and colleagues have been conducting epidemiologic studies over the past 20 years of airline pilots, technicians, engineers and other people who are chronically exposed to low-frequency noise and infrasound. The effects are grim: cardiovascular, respiratory, neurologic, and renal pathology and symptoms, which they call vibroacoustic disease (VAD).
*VAD is well established in the clinical literature. It has been amply documented and is readily detected by a variety of diagnostic tests.
Associate Professor Alves-Pereira will be describing Vibroacoustic disease, discussing her work in the field, the latest developments and the implications of low frequency noise and infrasound exposure.
Thursday, 13 October 2016
Wexford couple speak out about wind turbine noise invading their home.
Another Irish family affected by wind farms, one family from a community who were brushed aside
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/enniscorthyguardian/news/couple-declares-wind-farm-plight-27252341.html
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/enniscorthyguardian/news/couple-declares-wind-farm-plight-27252341.html
Saturday, 17 September 2016
Unbearable Wind Turbine Noise: Irish Court Shuts Down Wind Farm at Night
It's only 1 turbine but it is a start of things to come
Court order stops noisy wind turbinePress Release
Mullavilly and Whitesides Hill Residents
6 September 2016
Friday, 16 September 2016
Wind Farm Community Funding
You really need to call it Wind Farm Community Bribery
It seems that Grouselodge wind farm are giving money back to the community, lets discuss that, firstly that money comes out of the bill payers electric bills in the form of PSO levy everyone HAS to pay it, it is automatically added onto your electric bill, this causes fuel poverty there are households who will have to decide to eat or heat this year
Wind farms receive millions in subsidies whether they are running or not and they only give a few 1000 back, who will get this money probably a community group miles away from the wind farm, they cant hear it, they cant see it, they are not affected by it, chances are they would not of heard/seen it before now
They claim that Grouselodge wind farm provides electric for 9500 homes, what they dont tell you is that that electric is backed up with reliable fossil fuel power, can you imagine if it was not, when the wind stops blowing you would have no power, would you pay your bill then, there is no way of telling how many homes get what little bit of electric is produced to boil the kettle each day when it is windy, The wind farm does not have its own power grid, when the wind stops they take power back from the grid, this is more than likely fossil fuel power, to keep the fans running on the generators at the base of the turbines, any power they produce can not be stored it has to be used straight away.
It seems that Grouselodge wind farm are giving money back to the community, lets discuss that, firstly that money comes out of the bill payers electric bills in the form of PSO levy everyone HAS to pay it, it is automatically added onto your electric bill, this causes fuel poverty there are households who will have to decide to eat or heat this year
Wind farms receive millions in subsidies whether they are running or not and they only give a few 1000 back, who will get this money probably a community group miles away from the wind farm, they cant hear it, they cant see it, they are not affected by it, chances are they would not of heard/seen it before now
They claim that Grouselodge wind farm provides electric for 9500 homes, what they dont tell you is that that electric is backed up with reliable fossil fuel power, can you imagine if it was not, when the wind stops blowing you would have no power, would you pay your bill then, there is no way of telling how many homes get what little bit of electric is produced to boil the kettle each day when it is windy, The wind farm does not have its own power grid, when the wind stops they take power back from the grid, this is more than likely fossil fuel power, to keep the fans running on the generators at the base of the turbines, any power they produce can not be stored it has to be used straight away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)