Skegness Wind Turbine Trial To Light Up Pier In UK First
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A Lincolnshire seaside pier is being lit up at night with the help of a new mini wind turbine.
These are the first three paragraphs.
One of the 6ft (2m) vertical turbines has been installed on Skegness Pier with another fitted on a factory roof in Spalding.
They are able to capture wind from all directions without turning, making them low maintenance.
Both are made by Norwegian company Ventum Dynamics, which is testing the technology with local councils.
I believe it is one of those ideas, that proves the Sliced-Bread Theory of Innovation.
I have a few thoughts.
Design
The design looks clean, modern and unobtrusive.
I don’t know what the noise level is like, but I suspect good design means, it could be fairly low.
I’ll just have to visit Skegness on a windy day, which won’t be a difficult thing to arrange.
Easy To Add To An Existing Or New Building
The Ventum web site has some good pictures.
From my flying experience, I suspect that the higher a turbine is mounted, the more power will be generated.
The only problem would be the heritage lobby.
This picture shows Oakwood station on the Piccadilly Line.
Note.
- The station is the second most Northerly on the line.
- It opened in 1933.
- It is a classic Charles Holden design.
- It is a Grade II* Listed building.
- The station is on top of a hill and has an elevation of 71 metres above sea level.
It might be the ideal place to put perhaps six turbines on the roof.
But would the heritage lobby allow it?
Remote Power
Teamed with a battery, they would be the ideal remote power solution for buildings and locations without a mains supply.
Finance
I used to part-own a finance company and feel that these turbines would be attractive to a finance company, if ethically sold.
Conclusion
I like them!
The Anonymous Widower 
Hi fellow blogger!
These turbines are great for the Skegness Pier and factory roof in Spalding.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to comment Stuart
Comment by Stuart Drummond | February 25, 2023 |
No problem and these vertical turbines will open up lots of applications.
I think this could be a killer application.
I used to own a stud farm and low life checked out everything to pick up anything they could nick in the middle of the night!
It probably needs someone like Ventum or SeaTwirl to design a lightweight turbine with an appropriate power output.
Comment by AnonW | February 25, 2023 |
UK firm Alpha 311 will make small vertical turbines, to be mounted on lamp posts next to fast roads, 180 for Telford and 2000 for Greater Manchester, three of it’s turbines installed at the O2 Arena London survived Storm Eunice Feb 2022.
https://alpha-311.com/news/ Last weeks episode of Just Have A Think on youtube was about a Dutch firm IBIS POWER Powernest hybrid solar/wind turbines that can be installed on large buildings roofs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vJuKxAIMuA
Comment by jason leahy | February 25, 2023
I’ve come across a few companies making small turbines for rooftops, though I don’t think I’ve come across this one before. 6ft is actually quite large, like having a man standing on the roof.
Their website seems to emphasise commercial rooftops, most of which are of zero interest to conservationists. Lots of commercial premises have aircon units, which are very noisy and obtrusive, but no-one seems to complain about them. After a few days, people get used to them and cease to notice them.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 25, 2023 |
The turbine is more ducted fan, than propellor. So it should be quieter.
Comment by AnonW | February 25, 2023 |
About time all new build had to incorporate solar or min wind turbines like this. Look at the amount of large logistics buildings going up and majority still dont have solar panels but we are happy to cover our farm land with them because we believe we can always what we get from overseas – umm not sure thats working out so well.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | February 25, 2023 |
yes, I entirely agree. Especially commercial buildings, which, unlike many households, can make use of solar during the daytime. People keep going on about building offshore wind, which is all very well, but miles from any demand, and requires expensive cables to bring it where the demand is. Yet the sun shines and the wind blows pretty much all over. There’s an oft-quoted stat that enough energy from the sun hits the earth every hour to power the entire world economy for a year. No need to build nuclear reactors – we’ve already got one in the sky!
Comment by Peter Robins | February 25, 2023 |
With logistics buildings, it’s all about the money. Putting solar panels on the roof costs money and the tenant pays for it in the rent. As the owners learn more about solar panels, I suspect we’ll see more solar roofs, as the owners will know the economics, which they don’t now!
Look at this post.
Did Denny Brothers do one roof and then do the sums? They’ve now covered the whole site.
I’ve loaned money to companies to put in a second production machine, like an existing one! The sums usually add up, as the maths can be done. My partner in the finance company even did it with fairground rides. It was good business, so long as you didn’t mind being paid in bags of 50 p coins in a Little Chef or a pub on the A14.
But then one of his customer’s was a brother of a very large wrestler, who’d appeared on television, a large number of times.
Comment by AnonW | February 25, 2023 |
UK Warehousing Association which paid Delta-EE for research has said warehouse roofs can generate 15 GW but blames the DNOs ( District Network Operators ) for high charges to connect the pv panels to the grid.
https://www.ukwa.org.uk/market-intel/ukwa-teams-up-with-zestec-renewable-energy-to-take-solar-message-to-house-of-lords/
Comment by jason leahy | February 25, 2023
There has been sensible research in a Dutch University, that predicts that offshore wind with offshore electrolysers using repurposed gas pipes to bring the hydrogen ashore may be the most economic way to bring energy ashore.
Up to 5 % of hydrogen in the gas will save a lot of carbon and not require any changes to boilers, appliances and industrial processors. On places like Humberside, heavy energy users like British Steel would get more hydrogen to decarbonise their processes.
I am surprised how much money my solar panels pay me. There is also a substantial space on the roof, where a turbine could fit in.
Would I be able to use the same contract with OVO to feed in the electricity?
Comment by AnonW | February 25, 2023 |