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The World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm is Nearly Complete. It Can Power 1 Million Homes (cnn.com) 334

The world's largest offshore wind farm is taking shape off the east coast of Britain, a landmark project that demonstrates one way to combat climate change at scale. From a report: Located 120 kilometers (75 miles) off England's Yorkshire coast, Hornsea One will produce enough energy to supply 1 million UK homes with clean electricity when it is completed in 2020. The project spans an area that's bigger than the Maldives or Malta, and is located farther out to see than any other wind farm. It consists of 174 seven-megawatt wind turbines that are each 100 meters tall. The blades have a circumference of 75 meters, and cover an area bigger than the London Eye observation wheel as they turn. Just a single rotation of one of the turbines can power the average home for an entire day, according to Stefan Hoonings, senior project manager at Orsted (DOGEF), the Danish energy company that built the farm.

The project will take the United Kingdom closer to hitting its target of deriving a third of the country's electricity from offshore wind by 2030. It's the kind of project that can help governments achieve environmental targets set out at this week's United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. Some 77 countries committed at the summit to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, but climate activists including Greta Thunberg say that major emitters must do more to mitigate rising temperatures.

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The World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm is Nearly Complete. It Can Power 1 Million Homes

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  • Greta Thunberg (Score:4, Insightful)

    by scourfish ( 573542 ) <scourfish@yahoCOWo.com minus herbivore> on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:16PM (#59244272)
    I have nothing against a kid with an opinion, but why are people referencing her like she is an expert on the matter?
    • by Archangel Michael ( 180766 ) on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:18PM (#59244288) Journal

      Aspergers. The rest of us are idiots compared to the kid.

      And I'm smarter than you because I had to explain it to you. ;-)

    • She is a symbol of a movement, it is really all the kids who are going to be in tough times come about 250.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      She isn't an expert and AFAIK, she has not claimed to be.

      What she does have is a voice that more and more people are listening to and agreeing with. On the opposite side there are people like Trump who is actively working to desctroy the envirnment.
      What would you rather have eh?

      For me, and as a non-american, the sooner Trump is behind bars the better for the whole world.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 )

      Because she's 16 and see carbon dioxide with her eyes. She's also Joan d'Arc reborn.

      (Besides with the internet and more information available at nearly every set of fingertips than at any point in the entirety of human existence -- expertise and logic are now superfluous in the face of emotions and the gut)

    • Re:Greta Thunberg (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NEDHead ( 1651195 ) on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:24PM (#59244332)

      She doesn't have an 'opinion'. She is calling attention to a real and serious issue while lard-asses like you do nothing

    • She's just quoted because 1. it's currently a news media fashion trend, and 2. she represents the views of a huge load of people. Kinda the majority voice here in Europe.

      Of course it being her specifically, is mostly arbitrary. I bet some other kid is sad cause he did it first and nobody cared.
      She's a smart kid though, and isn't exactly talking dumb shit, like politicians. She talks straight instead of p.c.. And she *did* strike on her own. Kinda like a Trump from the good and sane alternate universe withou

    • by idji ( 984038 )
      I don't think you have ever listened to her. she says "don't listen to me. listen to the scientists". she is motivating millions to action.
    • Well, because she was highly visible while she was having a school strike because she was on the news a lot, she got the school strike to spread to other places, she got the local politicians to pay attention, and became well known in Sweden and beyond because of this and without any explicit media celebrity-creation machine.

      She also speaks well and speaks plainly, doesn't sound like a hippy, isn't a ego inflated movie star, etc. She's also very a-political, not choosing partisan sides, not recommending ca

    • People aren't. Politicians and the media.
      She's a flavor of the month. She's a David Hogg. A Blasey Ford. A whoever that porn star Trump paid hush money to was.

  • GTFOH (Score:2, Insightful)

    by BigZzzt ( 6273328 )
    "but climate activists including Greta Thunberg say that" Seriously. Ignoring whether you are left, right, center, eco loving or eco hating. Why the f#ck does anyone give a crap about the opinion of a 16 year old kid? She has nothing to add to the conversation that wasn't spoon fed to her so that she can regurgitate it in from of a camera. By using her as some sort of validation for anything just makes the argument appear weaker.
    • by dwywit ( 1109409 )

      "nothing to add to the conversation that wasn't spoon fed to her so that she can regurgitate it in from of a camera"

      A technique that's *never* been used by political parties left or right.

      Let's say it again - attacking the messenger just shows that you have nothing to say about the message, i.e. it weakens *your* position, not hers.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by sexconker ( 1179573 )

        The messenger and message are both bullshit.
        Having already slayed the message, people will naturally turn toward the messengers who keep mouthing off about that bullshit.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Obfuscant ( 592200 )

        Let's say it again - attacking the messenger just shows that you have nothing to say about the message, i.e. it weakens *your* position, not hers.

        I remember not that long ago when professional, PhD scientists who disagreed with the "consensus" or the reasoning behind it were attacked because, even though they are outstanding scientists in their own field, they weren't CLIMATE scientists. They had no right to comment on the science involved in CLIMATE science because they were experts in some other kind of scientist. Did you point out that attacking the messenger showed that the climate alarmists had nothing to say?

        Greta isn't even a scientist, she's

      • Her position can't possibly be weakened because it's nonsense. She says clearly that cutting emissions by 50% in the next 10 years only has a 50% chance of saving us from catastrophic climate change. Bullshit. We can't cut emissions by 50% in 10 years, anyway. Not going to happen, but, then again, neither is the catastrophe that she's so worried about.

        I feel bad for her, because watching her it looks like she really believes that the earth is going basically die in her lifetime because we (older folks)

    • She can have an opinion just like anyone else. There are plenty of 16 year old kids with perfectly good , some even great, opinions.

      And she is correct. Greedy fucks are destroying the planet for short sighted profit motive.

  • My God (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
    think of all the cancer!
  • And, on daily average, it rotates once every 15 seconds, giving roughly 15-16 m/s blade tip speed.

    Also, one home is expected to need about 1.2kW on average, or about 29kWh a day.
    Which is about 105kJ. A 20th of a Snickers bar.

    Jesus ... Has anyone tapped the vast Snickers resources? It could be the next fossil fuel!

  • UK's current electricity consumption is about 5 GW. That says this project, running at capacity, would be providing something in the ballpark of a fifth the country's power.

    Now imagine a few mines, planted on the underwater cabling by submarines, cutting the wires and suddenly dropping that feed.

    • Pull down a few high tension towers in the middle of nowhere. Chances are there aren't any redundant lines and it will take weeks if not months to restore. Don't even need explosives, submarines, just a tow truck.

      Saw that in 1998 with the Quebec ice storm.

      • I used to think that would work, but the utilities have helicopters that can fly in a new tower inside a few days. There are other parts that are much more vulnerable for a long term impact.

      • Repairing lines on land is infinitely easier than at sea...
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by merde ( 464783 )

      UK's current electricity consumption is about 5 GW..

      According to gridwatch.co.uk, the UK's power consumption is about 28.3GW at the moment. Where did you get 5GW from?

    • nice script for a thriller move. But this farm is only 75 miles from shore, and you might be interested to know the USA and England jointly track subs. Such a thing would be act of war, I almost pity the nation stupid enough to try it.

      You do know underwater cables can be and are repaired, replaced, maintained.

    • Might want to check your numbers there. The city of London should be more than 5GW.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Imagine a few cruise missiles aimed at nuclear and coal plants. Imagine if one single bomb took out the National Grid control centre.

      Anyway, that sea is heavily monitored and patrolled by multiple nations. They wouldn't waste time with those cables, they would launch their nukes at strategic targets like London and GCHQ.

    • by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Now imagine a few mines, planted on the underwater cabling by submarines, cutting the wires and suddenly dropping that feed.

      Imagine existing hitting transmission towers on the ground with a truck. Or a saw. Or maybe a rock. Or damaging them in any other sort of way. Why do you think that underwater transmission cables are any more vulnerable than the regular stuff that we have now?
  • This delivers 1GW (Score:5, Insightful)

    by merde ( 464783 ) on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:44PM (#59244442)

    This delivers about 1GW, presumably when wind conditions are optimal.
    When the air is still, it has no output. At those times we have to burn gas for power.
    That means that we have to keep 1GW of gas fired power stations available, even though we are not using them all the time.
    I am not trying to denigrate this project - it will reduce the amount of gas we burn for power - but what we really, really, really need is a method of storing lots of electricity.

    • What we really, really, really need is to manage demand for electricity to suit generation. Separate wiring into essential and non-essential and allow non-essential to be switched off as necessary. Maintain essential $/kWh at 10x non-essential, and include a max demand tariff so users playing clever games auto-switching from non-essential to essential when non-essential is blacked out, they get hit. If end user wants to store energy locally from non-essential, then they get the cost benefit from this.

    • by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Friday September 27, 2019 @05:43PM (#59244994)

      Fallback to solar also, or geothermal, or hydro, or ... Yes, we need energy storage. But even before such storage exists the wind power will still be highly valuable, especially as the wind is quite common out on the sea.

  • by blindseer ( 891256 ) <blindseer@noSPAm.earthlink.net> on Friday September 27, 2019 @04:00PM (#59244510)

    Is this the kind of panic Greta is asking for?

    https://www.insidesources.com/... [insidesources.com]

    Throughout the Northeast, activists have held up natural gas pipeline construction projects, either by protesting or by persuading state or local government officials to deny permits or create other legal hurdles.

    âoeNew Hampshireâ(TM)s natural gas-fired generation has declined in the past three years and now is at its lowest level since 2002,â the EIA concluded. âoeThe decrease has been compensated for primarily by increases in coal-fired generation and hydroelectric power.â

    Merrimack Station could convert to cleaner-burning natural gas. But no pipeline runs to the plant.

    âoeThere is no plan to convert the plants to natural gas because there is no supply line nearby,â the New Hampshire Union Leader reported in January.

    Activists have been so successful in blocking new natural gas pipeline construction that theyâ(TM)ve guaranteed the continued operation of the very coal-fired power plant they now demand be shut down.

    I swear that if these panicked idiots don't stop this bullshit and actually think about what they are doing then they are going to get us all killed.

    Those windmill projects need backup power for when the wind doesn't blow. Right now this means natural gas. There are a lot of very nice developed sites to put these natural gas generators but they need pipelines to them so the generators have fuel. These sites exist where there are existing electrical transmission lines to get the electricity out, and train lines to get the equipment in. Sites that the utilities already own and have staff to run.

    I can hear it now, "But we'll use batteries!" Where are these batteries? Where can I buy them? How soon can I get them on site and operational? The answer is that nobody knows and so we need options. We can build new natural gas turbines to supply this power, or we can keep burning coal in boilers that are far beyond being in need of replacement.

    This is ignoring the problems of offshore wind being more expensive than nuclear power. But let's just assume it is cheaper than nuclear power. We still need natural gas until there are enough batteries to go around. Natural gas can't be easily transported in any way other than a pipe. Without a pipe the utilities will have to bring in coal and/or fuel oil to keep the lights on this coming winter.

    Greta says we should panic. I say we should think. Think about how this expansion of wind and solar power is changing the electrical grid. You people think it was so smart to hold up the construction of oil and gas pipelines? I say these protesters are ignorant, foolish, unintelligent, and just godawful screaming banshees that should be leaving this to the experts. Not only are they ignorant, they are willfully ignorant. It's not that difficult to look up how this works. We need reliable power or people will be freezing to death.

    All you children need to stop panicking, let the adults do their job, go back to school, and when you are old enough then you can help us keep fixing this problem.

  • "The project spans an area that's bigger than the Maldives or Malta,

    I would guess that nobody on /. has a clue how big that is.
    If you must use islands as standard units of area, at least use something we know (Rhode Island, or Manhattan )

  • I've heard from a stable genius that windmills cause cancer. Is this going to give the North Atlantic cancer? Three eyed fish?

You know you've landed gear-up when it takes full power to taxi.

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