PEDAL: Wind turbine (was: blowing in the wind)

[rmolehusband]

I spoke to a chap from PEDAL at last Saturday's energy event in the town hall about plans to install a community wind turbine on the front, between the bus garage and the sea. Sounds like a great idea to me.

I'd been tempted to mention it on here but thought I'd wait until PEDAL publicised it. They posted it on their website yesterday:

http://pedal-porty.org.uk/2010/07/72000 ... -announced

and the EEN alos picked it up.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/ ... 6421081.jp

And here's a suggestion for the inevitable NIMBY campaign acronym:
POWER - Portobello Opposes Wind Energy Renewables

[Porty]

Good one

[StarVanMan]

This is great. We need to get a better grip on energy, what it is, where it comes from. Porty is actually a window on all this from coal seams to tides. A city wind farm here will really help to bring this home.

I read an article the other weekend about architecture revitalising English coastal resorts. It made me think we dont have anything in Porty but I was left wondering what would actually work here. This would be a great fit for us.

[Bob Jefferson]

From the BBC:

Wind turbine plan for Edinburgh seafront

[seanie]

My first impression would be that, as a site for a turbine, it might be a wee bit marginal. Most urban locations aren't suited to wind turbines as the wind is too disrupted by buildings etc. Even rural turbines need to be sited quite carefully to maximise the wind resource. The coastal location will probably help though, so it may generate some useful income.

[allaboardtheskylark]

Must say that PEDAL are going from what many thought looked like a bit of a fanciful fringe group (no insult intended) are starting to shape up like a fairly positive force.

Looks great in the mocked up picture. Can't wait to hear what the against brigade comes out with on this one. Methinks they may be snookered.

[seanie]

They certainly seem to have lot's of useful projects on and in the pipeline.

[wangi]

http://pedal-porty.org.uk/2011/06/wind- ... s-release/

Community groups join forces in new bid to bring power to the people

A unique part­ner­ship between two Edinburgh com­munity groups has been estab­lished to develop a com­munity owned wind tur­bine on the coast between Portobello and Leith.

PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith have joined forces to con­duct detailed feas­ib­il­ity work on a site within the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works. Early sur­veys sug­gest a wind tur­bine on this site has the poten­tial to gen­er­ate enough renew­able energy to sup­ply the annual elec­tri­city needs of 300 — 1300 house­holds, depend­ing on the size of tur­bine installed.

...

http://www.greenerleith.org/greener-lei ... power.html

Back our Energyshare bid to boost community power

A unique partnership between two Edinburgh community groups has been established to develop a community owned wind turbine on the coast between Portobello and Leith.
PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith have joined forces to conduct detailed feasibility work on a site within the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works. Early surveys suggest a wind turbine on this site has the potential to generate enough renewable energy to supply the annual electricity needs of 300 - 1300 households, depending on the size of turbine installed.

The generator would be the first community-owned urban wind turbine in Scotland.

The project would see substantial sums raised for local community projects over the lifetime of the project. The two groups have now launched a campaign to raise funding to develop the project, and are urging local residents to help win funding by supporting a bid to the Energyshare Fund.

The projects with the most supporters on the Energyshare website have the greatest chance of winning funding. Therefore, both community groups are urging Edinburgh residents to register their support on the Energyshare website before the 30th June at: http://tiny.cc/porty-leith-wind
...

And on STV Edinburgh: http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/news/2544 ... edinburgh/

Community groups propose Scotland's first urban wind turbine for Edinburgh

Renewable energy has the potential to raise thousands for local projects.

03 June 2011 07:10 BST


Renewable energy: wind turbine proposed for Leith Pic: Vaxomatic

A proposal to build Scotland’s first urban wind turbine on the north Edinburgh coast has been launched by two local community groups.

The community owned turbine would raise substantial funds to invest in local projects through the sale of electricity to energy companies while also contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions.

The partnership of Greener Leith and PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town is behind a campaign to raise money for the development of this project and draw attention to the plans for a wind turbine.

The organisations hope to gain support from local residents and would like them to register their support online on the website of the funding body, Energyshare Fund. The greater the support for project means a greater chance of securing financial backing.

The site suggested for the turbine is inside the Seafield Water Waste Treatment Works between Leith and Portobello.
...

And here's an FAQ: http://www.scribd.com/doc/56965798/Port ... w2rdtimf8t

[wangi]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinb ... 6788076.jp

Why sewage plant turbine plan is such a stinker
It was with some astonishment that I read in the Evening News that there are plans to erect a wind turbine at Seafield. Since there isn't even enough wind at Seafield to blow away the "Seafield stench" from the sewage treatment works, what on earth makes someone think this solitary turbine will produce a significant amount of energy? It will be nothing more than an eyesore. Wind turbines in an urban environment simply don't work.
You need to put them where there is lots of wind and, in general, that is not where people choose to live.

... (3 pages worth!)

[seanie]

There's some confusion in the article. It's true that building mounted turbines are frequently useless, but that's true regardless of where your building is be it urban environment or rural countryside. To work effectively turbines need a clean, non-disrupted flow of wind, and for building mounted turbines the building itself disrupts the air-flow. It could be blowing a gale but the wind will be confused and the turbines can't cope.

Turbines should be sited well away from anything that causes an obstacle; at least 10x the height away from any obstacle and preferably 20x. That's why, generally speaking, turbines in an urban environment will be difficult to locate, not because towns are in places that aren't windy enough. Along at Seafield there's quite a large flat, fairly undeveloped stretch. A turbine there might work just fine.