Kicks in both kneecaps
Yorkshire Post | 22 September 2012
In his letter “Positive spin on turbines” ( Yorkshire Post September 7), Eric Daines draws attention to the electricity generating stations Ferrybridge C, Eggborough and Drax and their impact on the visual environment. Here is a comparison of those three “real monstrosities” and his apparent preference for windmills.
They have an annual output of about 46TW/hr and it is available on demand, at the flick of a switch. A single wind farm, on land (one has to be equitable), which would produce the same quantity of electricity per year would need 5,600 windmills, each of 3-5 MW capacity. They would be 150m (490ft) high to the blade tip. The cooling towers at Drax are 115m (377ft) high. Such a single “farm” would cover an area of 430 square miles. Put into perspective, this would be equal to the area of Yorkshire bounded by the M62 to the south, the A1 to the west and, from the north to the east, the boundary would be from the A1/A59 (through York), A1079 (to Market Weighton) and A1034 to the M62. Not a practical proposition but a comparison nevertheless. There are kicks in both kneecaps: the output of the wind farm is not available on demand but only when the wind is blowing sufficiently and there seems to be nearly as much objection to putting them offshore as there is onshore.
DM Loxley, Hartoft, Pickering.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/09/22/kicks-in-both-kneecaps/