Ascension : English Bay Wind Farm
Submitted by The Islander (Islander Editors) 01.04.2010 (Article Archived on 15.04.2010)
The BBC English Bay Wind Farm has started to generate clean electricity for Ascension Island!
The BBC English Bay Wind Farm has started to generate clean electricity for Ascension Island!
On Thursday the 18th of March the first of the wind turbines at the BBC English Bay Wind Farm started generating electricity for the Island . It wasn’t the windiest of days and we only reached about 60% of what the turbine is capable of generating however it was a great start. Since then three more of the five wind turbines have been commissioned as well. We hope to get the last one running soon.
The wind turbines were made by Enercon in Germany who chartered a ship to send them to Ascension. Each turbine is 37m to the top of the tower with a 33m rotor diameter, making them 53.5m (176 ft) tall to the tip of the blades. The rotor spins at approximately 35rpm and always in a clockwise direction. The turbine automatically turns to face into the wind. The towers are steel and the blades are made of fibreglass. The wind turbines are the same model as on the Falklands .
Each wind turbine can generate up to 330kW (450hp) when the wind speed is 30mph (25 knots) or more. If the wind speed is lower than this the turbine will produce less power. The wind on Ascension is excellent for generating power as it is both strong and consistent; the wind also seems to be well correlated with the electrical load on Ascension- that is the wind is strongest at peak times for electricity usage. The power from the wind farm goes directly into the island electricity system so everyone has already used some wind power by now- although you won’t notice any difference.
Once finished the wind farm will be capable of generating up to 1650kW on a windy day although we think that most of the time it will average about 900kW. Ascension Island uses between 1000kW and 3000kW depending on the time of day and the BBC transmitting schedule. To put this in perspective, a running computer or a TV uses about 0.2kW and a light bulb 0.1kW. This means that the wind farm will contribute a significant percentage of our electricity and help to reduce the amount of diesel burnt. This is better for the environment on Ascension as it means cleaner electricity, a lower carbon footprint, fewer diesel tankers and less reliance on fossil fuels- something for everyone to be proud of!
Also, I don’t think there is a family on the island who hasn’t been involved with the wind farm in some way, so congratulations and thank you to everyone who has helped to make the project a success.
If you want to learn more about wind power try:
Renewables UK : www.bwea.com/ref/faq.html
Katherine Doerr
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