Wind Power

I am just an ordinary person trying to understand why we need to place wind turbines in some of the most remote areas of the British Isles which is not where the power is needed and then “transporting” the electricity sometimes hundreds of miles to where it is required.

The problem, as I see it, with most schemes for generating electricity is that the power is generated miles from where the electricity is required.  If more single wind turbines were erected where the power is required everyone and the countryside wins.

My understanding is that at least a third of the electricity created, by any method, is lost in “transportation” through the power lines and sub-stations.  No-one seems to want to address this problem on a large scale.  If farmers or other organisations, such as Glynbourne, build single wind turbines to address their needs any excess electricity is fed back to the National Grid without the need for any pylons or sub-stations.

I have just returned from Cornwall where, in a very small area, at least three fields are used to grow elephant grass and another two and a half fields have been “planted” with solar panels.  The solar panel generated electricity is for local use so there are no pylons and excess electricity is fed back to the National Grid.  But how do we grow crops to eat or feed or animals if a massive acreage is given over to producing electricity?  It is all very well trying to be independent as a nation for energy but a consequence will be that we have to import more and more basic food stuff.

Industrialised areas of the country should be considering how to generate electricity close to where it is need, as at Avonmouth and Barrow in Furnace, where there are wind turbines.  They may not generate all the electricity required but they are a step in the right direction.

And if wind turbines or solar panels are needed on a bigger scale why not place them on the embankments of motorways or other major roads?

Written by Ronnie on 2019