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There were concerns that wind farms, often located in particularly exposed areas, may have suffered damage. The news, however, is good. Of the UK’s 719 operational turbines, only three seem to have experienced any problems - and these were not related to the strength of the wind. Two blades were hit by lightning, one at Taff Ely in Mid Glamorgan, the other at Four Burrows in Cornwall, and there was a turbine fire at Cemmaes in Powys, caused by overheating of a small drive motor and unconnected to the high winds. To put this in perspective, the National Grid Company’s transmission network experienced a number of storm-related problems caused by the tripping of cables - leaving thousands of homes without electricity for several days. A total of 18 wind farms, accounting for 159MW of installed generating capacity, had by the time of writing released data on the amount of electricity generated over the period Christmas Eve to midnight 6 January inclusive. These wind farms together generated 21,833MWh, giving an overall capacity factor of 47.7%. This is good, considering that for some periods the winds were so strong the turbines were shut down to avoid them sustaining damage. Recorded gust speeds included 60m/s (132mph) at Cemmaes and 52m/s (114mph) at Cold Northcott, Cornwall (the highest recorded since the site was commissioned). It should be noted that the very high winds were not the only reason for some wind farms being shut down. Several wind farms had to shut down a number of times because of faults on the distribution network; with the Grid unavailable, there was nowhere for them to send their power. Rheidol Wind Farm in Dyfed was unable to operate for two days for this reason. We would like to thank the British Wind Energy Association for contributing this article to NEW REVIEW. |
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