Vive Wind La France!

Colin P
While Germany and the UK seem to get a lot of publicity about their ambitious goals for wind energy, France is determined not to be left behind.  The country plans to install 19,000 MW of wind farms onshore  and 6,000 MW in offshore farms within the next six years. But there has been a decline in… Read the rest

The Most Powerful Turbine Award 2014 Goes Too…..

Colin P
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas is planning to create and market the world’s largest wind turbine. Its first 8-MW prototype began generating power at the Danish National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines in Østerild. Here it is being assembled at the site: We’ve come a long way since the first 450-kW offshore wind turbine was… Read the rest

Harnessing Wind Power in New Ways

Sarah Dinola
Dr. Daryoush Alleai is an engineer and pioneer and founder of a company called Sheerwind, which has developed an innovative wind turbine called Invelox that has no blades. Here is a glimpse of his thought processes that led to the creation of the bladeless turbine: “What if you could scoop the air? Scoop it and move… Read the rest

A Free Wind Turbine for You!

Sarah Dinola
Are you a landowner in Northern Ireland (or Scotland or Italy) with planning permission in place for a wind turbine of 200kW or higher – 30-metre tower height  – 26 metre or larger rotor diameter and a grid connection offer in place? If you are, then you’ll know that the final piece of the jigsaw you… Read the rest

Danes Produce Half of their Electricity from Wind

Sarah Dinola
For the month of December, last year, wind power provided the country of Denmark with just over half-about 55%- of its electricity. That’s a record. It is the first time any country has generated and used over half of its electricity from wind power alone for an entire month. During Christmas week, it provided 68.5%. Denmark… Read the rest

The Impact of Wind Farms in Australia

Colin P
You might be forgiven for thinking that the social and environmental impact of wind turbines has been done to death over the last four decades. But as long as the pro-fossil fuels/nuclear/anti-wind lobby continue to agitate then research companies will be queuing up to embark on  a slice of “new” research for a fee. They’ve been… Read the rest

Cape Wind, Nantucket Sound: Latest Developments

Sarah Dinola
The much delayed huge offshore wind farm off Nantucket Sound; Cape Wind, moved a step closer to being constructed after a ruling by a US federal court on Wednesday. The US Court of Appeals upheld the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) 2012 determination that the proposed 130-turbine Cape Wind offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, south… Read the rest

Arctic Wind: Norrbotten

Sarah Dinola
Norrbotten (meaning North Bothnia) is a Swedish province that borders Swedish Lapland, and Finland to the East. While Sweden’s Russian and Norwegian neighbours favour Arctic oil,  Norrbotten is becoming one of Europe’s bigger producers of wind energy. The region’s unique Markbygden wind farm will generate sufficient energy to meet 8% of Sweden’s electricity demands by 2020.… Read the rest

Wind Power and Wildlife Can Co-Exist

Colin P
Despite the fact that our production of non-renewable energy has for many years adversely affected our environment, and wildlife (the London smog caused by factory chimney smoke in the 1950’s killed thousands of birds as well as people!), the complaints about the evils of wind power to birds and bats continues to be voiced.  It seems… Read the rest

Slieve Kirk Wind Park- Northern Ireland’s Largest Wind Farm

Colin P
Here are Paul Cooley, the General Manager Ireland of SSE Renewablest and the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at the opening of the £125m Slieve Kirk Wind Park this week. The Park has been developed by SSE Renewables to supply energy to the second largest energy provider Airtricity.  The Park was originally a 27MW wind farm… Read the rest