Offsite Generation
I was discussing with Franny whether it was practical to think of building a wind turbine at the top of the wood in Hedgerley. The problem is that is would have to be really high to clear the trees – or we would have to clear a lot of trees, which we don’t want to do. Then I wondered about the necessary cable run to the house. No, said Franny, it would connect to the grid not the house.
At that point a light went on in my head. In that case it could connect to the grid anywhere and produce the same effect. So we’ do much better to find somewhere more appropriate in every sense and site our turnbine there. We need a piece of land with good wind conditions, a nearby connection to the grid and where planning permission is probable. This shouldn’t be too hard to find. It wouldn’t even need a large area. And the alternative to our buying a small piece of land, would be to link up with others. I’ll talk to Ecotricity about these options, but they all seem much more practical than siting a turbine at Hedgerley – though it does mean we lose the option of going off-grid if that every became the best option.
on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 11:24 am and is filed under Blowing in the Wind.
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April 14th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Could you perhaps just remove a small number of trees at Hedgerley, to create a wind tunnel, and put the turbine in there?
Failing that, what about having lots of little turbines just peeping above the top of the tree line?
April 23rd, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I’ve heard that it’s easy to get planning permission to connect to the grid,
but that they take 10 years to get around to doing it? . . . . . .??