Go-ahead for towering new wind turbines in Bristol
Two wind turbines which are set to be built at Avonmouth are expected to be among the highest structures in the Bristol area.
The top of their rotor blades will reach up to 430ft (131m) – nearly as high as the top of the towers of the M48 Severn Bridge, which reach 445ft.
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Councillors have given planning permission for the wind turbines, which will supply Bristol City Council with a fifth of its energy needs.
The council says they will provide up to three megawatts – enough electricity to supply between 2,000 and 2,700 homes with power.
The turbines will be put up on the former Shell tanker site, which is council-owned land north of Avonmouth.
The exact size of the turbines has not yet been decided. But at most, their tip height will be 430ft (131m), rotor diameters will be 301ft (92m) and their hub height 279ft (85m).
Councillors unanimously backed the plans, subject to conditions, including noise limits.
The now-derelict site was used to store fuel in large tanks until the late 1970s.
The council, which spends £4 million a year on electricity, said the site is the best it can find.
This is because the wind turbines would have an easy connection to the National Grid and enjoy "very good wind exposure".
There are also no homes within a third of a mile. The area already has three 120m wind turbines, built by the Bristol Port Company and installed in 2007.
Plans were announced last year for nine more to be built in the area by 2011 which include these two for the city council.
The drive to put up more turbines follows criticism of the £15-billion Severn Barrage scheme, which a report last year claimed was much more expensive than wind power.
Ministers are calling for an extra 4,000 onshore and 3,000 offshore turbines.
Comments
by Beaufort, Hilltown
Thursday, January 15 2009, 10:23PM
“Re. expense: the Chairman of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has remarked in a damning report on wind power:
¿The UK is most likely to adopt wind power as its main means of producing more renewable electricity. This has an inherent weakness in that it cannot be relied upon to generate electricity at the time it is needed. Current policies would take the UK into uncharted territory, with a dependence on intermittent supply unprecedented elsewhere in Europe. To guard against power shortages, wind turbines would need to be backed up with conventional generation. Together with the requirement to replace almost a quarter of the UK's older generating capacity by 2020, this represents a massive investment programme. Whether it is achievable in the time available is open to doubt.¿ (¿The Economics of Renewable Energy¿, 12 November 2008).
The barrage would, like nuclear, at least guarantee base-load power rather than merely adding to intermittent renewables that nearly all experts agree should be seen as additional capacity, rather than a substitute for the substantial number of old coal and nuclear plants which are scheduled to be replaced by 2020.”