Domusursorum

What does a Wind Farm do?

It generates wind. An increased amount of wind is usually noticeable within sight of the farm, this is due to currently inefficient storage of generated wind.

Who runs the Wind Farms?

Wind Farms are run by the regional Wind Company; for instance in Cornwall they are owned and run by Cornish Wind.

What happened before there were Wind Farms?

There has always been a small amount of naturally occurring wind. Historically sailors would attempt to generate wind by ‘whistling for a wind’. However using this method only a small amount of wind could be generated and it was both inefficient and unreliable. In more recent times each community would have a windmill to provide local wind. These could produce only a limited quantity of wind and had no storage facilities.

What percentage of wind occurs naturally?

There is some controversy over the amount of naturally occurring wind. A figure of between 20 and 40 percent has been suggested; however in Cornwall for instance Trade Winds International claim that the wind that Cornish Wind regards as natural is actually run off wind from wind they have sold to other regions and thus Cornish Wind should pay an overrider for it. This area is still in dispute.

Should I buy my own wind?

In England and Wales your local council (weather department) buys wind on your behalf. This is paid for out of the Council Tax. If you need extra wind for a specific purpose it can be bought direct from a wind company.

Who can I buy my wind from?

It depends on the area you live in. In Cornwall wind can be bought from Cornish Wind or Gwynt Cymru (Welsh Wind) - or from a global company such as Trade Winds International. You receive the same air only the name on the top of the bill is different.

And if you think the above is a lot of (hot) air then consider what’s happened to our utilities since privatisation!

• For some REAL windmills check out the Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales. http://www.foe.co.uk/CAT

This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 02:00 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.