The Technology Context – B101
The London Array Wind Farm Project
As our modern world evolves, our technology advances and our needs grow ever greater, energy demands continue to rise. It is in this technological age of power where we find ourselves, for the first time, in a situation where the one thing we have taken for granted for centuries is not only becoming a rarer and rarer commodity, but also an environmental issue. This is of course, electrical energy. As our dependency on fossil fuels now needs to change, we must look into other greener energy sources. One such source would be wind power. I struggle to entertain myself during an hour long power cut; therefore I feel that the need to start developing renewable energy sources now is paramount.
The London Array is a large offshore wind farm planned for development in the outer Thames estuary. The project aims to complete the 341 turbines by 2010 and will provide up to 1,000MW of electricity, powering around 750,000 homes and accounting for 10% of the governments renewable energy aims for the decade. It would produce the same amount of electricity as a fossil fuel power station, but would cut carbon dioxide emissions by around 1.5 million tonnes.
The group called the London Array Limited is developing the project. There are three companies invested in this consortium; Shell Wind Energy, famous for its distribution of fossil fuels, but has recently been shifting from more anthropogenic interests to some renewable energy developments. DONG Energy, which are involved in most stages and in most fields of energy. E.ON, which is one of the largest public utility companies in Europe and the world’s largest investor owned energy service provider. It is these three companies together that have made the London Array wind farm project a reality.
Over the winter necessary work will begin on the national grid. Changes, additions and improvements must be in place to accommodate the power input from the turbines once they are in place. In early 2009 work must begin on the first stage of the wind farm so that it can be completed by the end of 2010 to meet the governments’ targets.
If a wind farm as large as this were being developed near to where I live, then I feel that I would want to know a bit more about it from the local council or government. In the past it has been usual for those living locally to such projects to adopt a “not in my back yard” attitude to the scheme, which they believe will intrude on their daily lives whether it be long term or short term. This means that although they may support renewable energy sources, they do not wish to be burdened with the construction time and inconvenience of having them locally. I would have no problem with a wind farm locally to me because sooner or later energy sources like wind will be one of our only resources left, so it's best to 'get on board' early. A newsletter was issued earlier in 2007 online to console locals who may have had issues concerning the wind farm. With the construction of such large scale infrastructure, there will inevitably be large amounts of construction vehicles and materials. To ease the impact of this onto the local community several measures have been taken. One example would be the Graveney substation, which is located in the same vicinity as a primary school. To stop any possibilities of incidents, a strict 20MPH speed limit will be placed on all contractors in the area. HGV and contracting vehicles will not leave or enter the construction site for two hours around busy school times. The construction of a crossing between the school and a playing field will be funded and a traffic marshal will be employed. This is one example of how negative impact on the local community is being taken into consideration and steps are being taken to minimise the burden.
There are also positive impacts for the local and larger community which must be taken into consideration. Besides the reduction in CO2 emissions which benefit everyone on the planet, having such a large installation locally could catalyse a whole new industry coming to East Kent. There are also benefits for the offshore renewable sector as all manner of materials will be needed.
Establishing new renewable energy sources, which will last as long as we maintain them, will benefit us for generations to come. It’s not just people like me who depend upon electrical energy every day to power my personal computer, my television, my mobile phone etc, everyone in the world would be shocked to find out how dependant they are upon electricity if they had none. I feel that our generation has a lot of responsibility to begin making big changes, and to start shaping what the world will be like tomorrow.
Whilst studying this subject, I have gained a personal interest into the project and will subsequently be investigating it further. I plan to start off by looking at some more websites, some about the array itself, some giving me a bit more information about wind power generally. I will be looking for similar situation wind farms to find out how successfully they have been, and if they were constructed within their scheduled time. From that I may be able to make some sort of judgement about the success of the project and its potential, based upon previous similar schemes. Some of the websites I will be looking through will be:
I would also take advantage of their online ‘Contact Us’ facility. This is an online method where groups or individuals can contact the London Array Consents Manager, and ask any questions they may have about the project. I would enquire further into the amount of noise generated by the turbines at peak times. This quantitative information will let me judge how loud the turbines will be compared to e.g. living near a flight path, or a train line. I will also ask what damage can happen to the turbines, including the long term costs of maintaining them. This may show that the actual long term cost is considerably higher than the initial cost. If possible I would also like to arrange a visit to the site once work has begun.
