British Wind Turbine Manufacturing
Discussion
Guys, I have just been checking online and even though the U.K. is one of the windiest countries in Europe and has countless wind turbines we appear to be the only major European country without a major wind turbine manufacturer of our own. Surely this is an industry of the future, shouldn't we start up a major British wind turbine manufacturer highlighting U.K. industry's green credentials to the rest of the World?
JPJPJP said:
It could happen in due course, once we have let Siemens Gamesa, MHI Vestas and others train up enough Brits in the factories we have let them open here to make a decent workforce without the trouble, delay and expense of doing that ourselves
Yes, good point. It is certainly something I would like to see.
p4cks said:
The blades will go to the far east, like much of the world's rubbish goes.
Offshore wind will catch on, but it's a slow burn that's for sure. Siemens had a plant in Wallsend until recently, focussed on offshore wind
I believe in the future, as green policies become more mainstream, we will incinerate more of our own rubbish here in the U.K. (in as much as can't be recycled) and use it to generate electricity (E.F.W. or energy from waste) saving the pollution of having to ship it half way across the World.Offshore wind will catch on, but it's a slow burn that's for sure. Siemens had a plant in Wallsend until recently, focussed on offshore wind
Also there are plans afoot to recycle more of our own steel here in the U.K., saving the pollution of shipping it around the World, not only that, the scrap steel will be melted in an electric arc furnace (E.A.F.) not the highly polluting blast furnace of yesteryear. Liberty steel's green steel is an example of this.
I agree offshore wind will definitely catch on, on a windy day in the U.K. we produce over 10 G.W. of electricity from wind, I look forward to seeing this expand to 20+ G.W. in the years ahead (hopefully with a home grown manufacturer in the mix!)
There was a place near me - Proven Energy - manufacturing wind turbines for years however they have a chequered history.
They were liquidated about 10 years ago after a fundamental fault was found in all their turbines and they told all customers to switch them off.
A quick google shows a few different company names at the same location so it seems a few phoenix companies have had a go at it.
They were liquidated about 10 years ago after a fundamental fault was found in all their turbines and they told all customers to switch them off.
A quick google shows a few different company names at the same location so it seems a few phoenix companies have had a go at it.
A few years ago I spoke to the guy who built the first wind farm in the UK, Delabole down in Cornwall.
He was saying how keen he was to have a UK manufacturer used. There were some British options at the time (very early 90's) and he did contact them first but they showed very little interest in actual commercial deployment. He also then contacted Vestas, a Danish manufacturer, and they bent over backwards to get things done. He ended up going with Vestas. 20 years later the orignal turbines were replaced with much larger modern units and Vestas is (still) one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers globally.
He was saying how keen he was to have a UK manufacturer used. There were some British options at the time (very early 90's) and he did contact them first but they showed very little interest in actual commercial deployment. He also then contacted Vestas, a Danish manufacturer, and they bent over backwards to get things done. He ended up going with Vestas. 20 years later the orignal turbines were replaced with much larger modern units and Vestas is (still) one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers globally.
fasteddy said:
I believe in the future, as green policies become more mainstream, we will incinerate more of our own rubbish here in the U.K. (in as much as can't be recycled) and use it to generate electricity (E.F.W. or energy from waste) saving the pollution of having to ship it half way across the World.
Seems the greens don't agree incineration is good. https://resource.co/article/greens-warn-incinerati...
fasteddy said:
I agree offshore wind will definitely catch on, on a windy day in the U.K. we produce over 10 G.W. of electricity from wind, I look forward to seeing this expand to 20+ G.W. in the years ahead (hopefully with a home grown manufacturer in the mix!)
The problem with wind is that it doesn't blow all the time. So it needs backed up by nuclear or gas. Not very green having two seperate generation systems.Wind can provide nearly nothing for up to a week or more, even in winter.
https://euanmearns.com/uk-grid-january-2017-and-th...
Winds, perhaps, has a place as part of a mix. I think we are past that point already. UNder current contracts wind farm get paid whether or not their power is needed. THe more wind on the grid the less economic gas poer stations are. So we end up with the situation where because we subsidise wind we also need to subsidise gas to be there as a backup. Or we end up with blackouts like California.
JPJPJP said:
It could happen in due course, once we have let Siemens Gamesa, MHI Vestas and others train up enough Brits in the factories we have let them open here to make a decent workforce without the trouble, delay and expense of doing that ourselves
I'll have what you've been smoking. Looks to be pretty potent s
t. irc said:
The problem with wind is that it doesn't blow all the time. So it needs backed up by nuclear or gas. Not very green having two seperate generation systems.
.
Arguably the most green option right now is to only use gas when we need to, adjusting it to meet the gap between demand and renewables generation..
That might not be the most economic or the most efficient, but it is also the best way to minimise our dependency on imported gas from Qatar and Russia.
irc said:
The problem with wind is that it doesn't blow all the time. So it needs backed up by nuclear or gas. Not very green having two separate generation systems.
Wind can provide nearly nothing for up to a week or more, even in winter.
This is simply a matter of coming to terms with renewable energy sources being what they are. Wind doesn't blow all the time, solar panels don't work in the dark, there's no energy in tides whilst they are turning. Live with it! Between them all though, it will be possible to generate enough power to provide for our needs and put energy into storage, using the surplus from high output/low demand times to charge batteries, push water uphill or make hydrogen by electrolysis. Wind can provide nearly nothing for up to a week or more, even in winter.
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