Wind power coming to the south coast?
Monday, August 24th, 2009 by Nigel
Many’s a time I’ve sat on Brighton beach, watching the starlings swoop over the wreck of the West Pier. The view may be about to change though as I hear plans are afoot to develop an offshore wind farm on a large scale.
According to Thurstan Crockett, Manager of the Sustainability Team at Brighton Council, the coast from Eastbourne going west has been earmarked by the Crown Estates for a wind turbine every kilometer. The £180million scheme, would generate up to 500 megawatts an hour, enough electricity to power the whole of Sussex and part of Kent.
It’s still in the early stages: planning permission will be sought in 2010 and construction is scheduled for 2014. If the planning application does go through, the naysayers will have a field day, as views along the coast would be changed forever.
Personally I think wind turbines are beautiful. And given that we are blessed with an endless supply of tidal and wind power, it’s a shame the large scale development of wind turbines hasn’t happened sooner.
(Pic above shows Ecotricity CEO, Dale Vince, with the Wind Turbine that was purported to be damaged by UFOs. Turns out damage was due to mechanical failure. Ecotricity are the UKs largest investor in new wind turbines. They have 2 tariifs: New Energy promises to match the price of your local supplier, the other, New Energy Plus, offers 100% renewable electricity at a small premium. Sign up with Ecotricty and receive a £20 voucher to spend at Nigel’s Eco Store!)
Blogmemes |
Del.icio.us |
Digg |
Furl |
Google |
Netscape |
PlugIM |
Reddit |
Squidoo |
StumbleUpon |
Technorati |
Yahoo My Web
August 24th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Finally. A council actually taking a step large enough to make a real difference.
I really hope this goes ahead as all too often these things are talked about but the rules and regulations block their happening.
It is large scale fundamental changes that are needed if we really want to find true sustainable living.
Great information as always Nigel.
Ed
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Hi Came across your blog by chance but wanted to say I think its great that you may have wind turbines. I grew up in Southwick, opposite the Brighton coal powered power station. The noise, soot, and view were not brilliant
I cannot understand why so many are against wind turbines.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
In the past 5 years, small wind turbine has a fast growth. I believe the wind power will supply more than 10% power in some country in 2015. For example, Denmark and UK.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I also find wind turbines beautiful and if I didn’t I would still support them. It’s better than are pollution.
One concern I have with wind turbines is that I have heard that birds can be killed by them. I don’t know if any research has been done on this.