Windmills
with wet feet
 |
|
Blyth
turbines |
On
12 March 2003, Warwick
Energy received consent to go ahead with the construction and
operation of a wind farm off Walney Island.
Construction
is nearing completion in April 2006.
In
summary
-
More
than 7 Km from Walney Island
-
The
wind farm will commence operation autumn 2006.
-
30
turbines, expected to generate up to 108 MWe.
-
On
average, enough
electricity for 87,000 homes.
-
Consent
for construction and operation received March
2003.
And
how will they look?
Using
computers we can estimate the way the windfarm may
look from the shore. The closest turbine will
be more than 7 km offshore. On bright and
clear days they will be visible; on murky days you
may not see them at all. The
southern tip of Walney Island will be the nearest
land to the proposed wind farm. This shows how
they may look from there.
Local Benefits
By the end of 2004, the Walney Wind
Farm would provide enough electricity for all the
homes in Barrow, Dalton, Ulverston,
Grange-over-Sands, Kendal, Morecambe and Heysham and
all the coastal settlements in between. All
the homes in the eco-footie can be powered by the
wind farm on the second toe nail. Based on
87,000 average homes, and estimates of wind speed
which take account of the fact that the wind
doesn’t always blow.
It is expected that this wind farm will make a significant contribution towards
the UK's target of producing 10% of its electricity
needs from renewable energy by 2010, and could take some pressure away from
more sensitive landscape areas onshore. 
Is
this a step in the right direction?
This wind farm has such a large potential to
generate power because the wind strengths are
greater offshore and because these are very big
turbines.
It
is hoped that the construction and maintenance of
the wind farm will create over 50 jobs, and that project will act as a catalyst to
attract a new manufacturing facility to the area
with the scope for the turbines, towers and
foundations to be made locally.
A
local maintenance facility will also be needed
during the 20 year operational life of the wind
farm, creating up to 16 full time jobs.
|
