Local wind farm - will local people benefit?

[Viper_Larry]

There are plans to put up 16 x 100m high wind mills about a mile from our house near the A1 at Biggleswade. Whilst I won't be objecting to the plans, I am taking an interest to see how this pans out and seen the planning application.

Question is - do people local to wind farms benefit from a reduction in electricity prices? Our local one is supposed to generate enough electricity for 18,000 homes. Now I know we won't get a huge reduction, but 1 or 2% would be nice for the local people having to put up with them.

[mrmaggit]

Dream on.

[Steamer]

Viper_Larry said:

do people local to wind farms benefit from a reduction in electricity prices?

I dont think so... do the people of Didcot get a reduction for living in the shadow of what looks like Homer Simpson's place of work?

...you might get some free publicity when the next ufo prangs one of the blades though

[theaxe]

No.

If you had your own turbine you could use it to off-set your charges.

[lord summerisle]

not a chance.

it all goes into the national grid.

what you will benefit from is your tax money going to subsidise the cost of building and connecting up the farm to the grid

[Viper_Larry]

So the only person who benefits is the local farmer who loses 2% of his land in return for years of rental income... nice.

[tonyvid]

Is that going into the field just to the west, before the south roundabout? I noticed a monitoring mast there a while ago.

If someone sticks a bloody great mast covered in anemometers in a field near you - be suspicious!

[Viper_Larry]

tonyvid said:

Is that going into the field just to the west, before the south roundabout? I noticed a monitoring mast there a while ago.

If someone sticks a bloody great mast covered in anemometers in a field near you - be suspicious!

Correct - yes, I noticed a mast a few weeks ago and surprised I hadn't seen it before. So that's what it's for!

More details on the plans here:

http://www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk/bigg/Wind-farm-p...

[andy-xr]

We had plans for one in the fields outside the village, in the wording it was mentioned that the wind farm could generate enough power for the whole of the village. Not that they were planning on powering our village with it, it was going back to the grid to be sold on to someone else

I dont mind having one in the back yard if there's a trade off on something else

[AndyAudi]

There was one built reasonably close to me and I had a look as they were trying to sell shares. One of my objections to investing was they had committed to returning profits to the local community, not in the form of cheaper electric, but by giving grants etc for "church roof fund" type things.

[turbobloke]

It's quite a biggie so is there a witches' coven nearby? They'd benefit from the eye of bat to keep their cauldron bubbling as hundreds of the flying mammals become deceased. Which is really why they call more than one a wind farm in memory of all the birds of prey and bats that buy it.

Edited by turbobloke on Tuesday 17th March 12:52

[him_over_there]

xkcd said:

The moment their arms spun freely in our air, they were doomed -- for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers, by virtue of occasionally producing someone totally batst insane.

[Simond001]

if the wind blows the wrong way it could ruin your lives.

There are plaenty of reports where people living a few miles away have suffered from the constant drone of wind as it is puled through the blades.

http://www.barrhill.org.uk/windfarm/noise/index.ht...

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Windfarm-noise...

http://www.windturbinenoisehealthhumanrights.com/

I fully appreciate that the PH brainiacs will tell you / me that all these concerns are bks, but I'll leave you to make your own mind up.

Oh, house prices!!!!

http://www.rics.org/NR/rdonlyres/63D1BF3E-A608-45C...

Edited by Simond001 on Tuesday 17th March 12:51

[FarleyRusk]

Viper_Larry said:

Our local one is supposed to generate enough electricity for 18,000 homes.

Ah the old theoretical Vs reality lie that the greenies use to push through their pet projects. Don't believe the hype!

Over time, windmills that can in theory operate 100% of the time have been found to generate power only 15%-20% of the time. So that 18,000 homes theoretical capacity figure becomes just under 4,000 homes in practice. When you divide the cost over the 4,000 homes I think you'll be quite happy not to get electricity at cost price

[turbobloke]

FarleyRusk said:

Viper_Larry said:

Our local one is supposed to generate enough electricity for 18,000 homes.

Ah the old theoretical Vs reality lie that the greenies use to push through their pet projects. Don't believe the hype!

Over time, windmills that can in theory operate 100% of the time have been found to generate power only 15%-20% of the time. So that 18,000 homes theoretical capacity figure becomes just under 4,000 homes in practice. When you divide the cost over the 4,000 homes I think you'll be quite happy not to get electricity at cost price

Which is why we're all paying through the nose for it with subsidies e.g. £25 billion renewables obligation certificates.

Windymills are pure bks.

[Viper_Larry]

Of course, it's just occurred to me that it's not the energy companies building these - I guess it's a private company who rent the land off the farmer, build the wind mills and sell the electricity back to the power provider for a profit, hence we'll get no financial benefit

[turbobloke]

Viper_Larry said:

Of course, it's just occurred to me that it's not the energy companies building these - I guess it's a private company who rent the land off the farmer, build the wind mills and sell the electricity back to the power provider for a profit, hence we'll get no financial benefit

There are lots of finance documents on the net relating to costs, I'm away from base otherwise I could post up some info from files.

[rhinochopig]

turbobloke said:

Viper_Larry said:

Of course, it's just occurred to me that it's not the energy companies building these - I guess it's a private company who rent the land off the farmer, build the wind mills and sell the electricity back to the power provider for a profit, hence we'll get no financial benefit

There are lots of finance documents on the net relating to costs, I'm away from base otherwise I could post up some info from files.

Here's one TB that will boil your piss. I was up at Dounreay nuclear facility a few weeks ago. As I drove up for the first time in about 10 years I saw hundreds of windmills that had been put up since my last visit. Now Dounreay is an established nuclear site, with a community very much pro-nuclear, with a group of SQEP individuals capable of running a new power station with minor training.

So what has the Scottish parliament decided to do - decommission the lot and put up windmills

[tonyvid]

Simond001 said:

if the wind blows the wrong way it could ruin your lives.

This site will be south west of the town so the prevailing wind WILL blow the noise their way.... 100m high, it's pretty flat around there

[Jasandjules]

To the OP, yes, you'll benefit from a beautiful view and a drop in house prices.