As someone who is obsessed with the electricity grid, these videos satisfy my curiosity like nothing else on youtube. Really enjoy the series and hope to see more good content like this.
I've been fascinated by wind generation for as long as I can remember but I never thought I'd be able to work in the industry, as I was kicked out of school at 14. Today, I'm watching this video from the wind farm in the Video! I'm working on the offshore substation seen at 2:30 Dreams CAN and do come true, no matter your background. if you want something, work for it, and it'll happen! I'm feeling blessed to finally be part of the industry and I'm hoping to work my way up to becoming a turbine installation engineer.
We’ve had massive onshore wind farms in the Highlands of Scotland for nearly 40 years. They make really cheap power, not much over 5p a kilowatt. It’s quite windy here all year round. But we get the highest electricity bills in Europe because we live too far from London.
You can also have the cheapest power generation in the world and still be over-charged by the people who own the means. Ain't capitalism grand? This is why going off the grid is really the only alternative.
It's more to do with the wind farms being privately owned and sold south of the border where they can make more money. Why would a private company sell at 5p when they can sell at market rates and generate 3-6x the revenue?
Poor gordon for not understanding how an open market works. You'll also find that on a per-capita basis your infrastructure (transmission and distribution [DNUOS and TNUOS) upkeep costs are quiter a significant portion of your bill.
No, the blades can't be recycled. The rest is scrap metal, so has a value. Plus they are spending tax money to build these farms, not company money. Your wages are being funnelled off to make a lot of already rich people even richer. Reusing them would mean they lose a sale, so they make sure they have a use by date. The carbon footprint of manufacturing one wind turbine is equal to 1,701 tons of CO2-equivalent. The UK average carbon footprint is about 10 tonnes CO2 per person per year.
They're working on it @@bobeyes3284, I can't post a link as YT won't let me, but search for 'Vestas unveils circularity solution to end landfill for turbine blades'. Once finalised this will take old blades to use as raw material to make replacement blades. At the moment they are either ground up to use in concrete as reinforcement, repurposed (I've seen some as bike shelters) or sent to landfill, although bear in mind that this is typically 10 years before they need replacement. As for the carbon footprint aspect, whilst the overall figure you state (1701 tons) might be correct, it's a little disingenuous and needs to be put into context. They typically 'pay this back' within 6-9 months of operation. Comparing it with a individual human footprint is not a particularly useful metric for comparison. CO2 per kWh is a better perspective - "On average, considering its whole lifecycle, a wind turbine emits 26 grams of CO2-equivalent per kilowatt-hour. For comparison, coal emits up to 1,689 grams of CO2-equivalent per kilowatt-hour." - taken from '8 Billion Trees .com'
A lot of "end of life" turbines are reconditioned and put back in to service. RePower being one of the bigger firms to do this. The blades are moving towards being fully recycleable
These newer blades are recyclable, the resins are acid soluble. There is no tax money going into building these (that was true of wind in the past but not any more, they're now cheap enough to not need it). Contracts are awarded by "reverse auction". Lowest bid for power price wins. Last round of UK off shore contracts bid in at 5p/kWh (domestic electricity prices are currently 35p). Design life is 25 years for the turbines.
It's not as much fun as you'd think. My normal 12 hour day is a 2 hour sail each way, spending about an hour doing paperwork before we start work. Probably only actually work 4 hours a day
@@ianstewart5840 its more the experience and the job id love the opportunity to try, im currently an approved electrician with alot of industrial experience, what is involved in getting into this field?
@@Tacticuz Papers you need to start is an offshore GWO training, oguk medical, chester step, preferably BOSIET sea training. Might be a little tough to get to an offshore straight away, however with good electrical background you should give it a try! Reach out to companies like boston energy or swire energy services. Good luck!
@@Tacticuz not too much involved, just look up companies near you that are in offshore wind and apply just like any other job. I had no wind experience before, now I'm an offshore technician for orsted. Good job, good lifestyle benefits and all that, though it can be very boring with lots of down time just sitting around
It really is an absolutely extraordinary achievement. The only downside, as they say, is the lack of consistency. That said, these will continue generating power at night or on dark cloudy days, unlike solar. The key to making all of this work best is in the non-chemical storage of electricity, such as via gravity batteries, water pumped up to lakes above hydro-turbines, etc. Makes me proud to be human.
International power export cables (interconnectors) help smooth out local wind lulls. GB grid currently has connections to Ireland (N and republic), Belgium, France, Netherlands, and Norway. Proposals are in place for interconnectors to Iceland and even Morocco, but that's a different story.
@@MaggieInABox Yes, but the output is significantly reduced, as is the daylight during Winter months. I love solar too, it just doesn't have the benefit of 24 hour operation like wind does.
It isn’t, to build wind farms and solar panels farms you have to clear land and level natural environments. They don’t work 24 seven and then you have the problem of what you do with them after there life cycle, besides having to clear natural environments there’s the effect they have on animals as they operate. They look ugly and instructive in nature. Everything would be a lot cheaper if we could pull energy out of the air, but sadly we can’t
This is baffling to me.. we've got some of the most unpredictable weather in the world and we build wind and solar farms.. both weather dependent.. when as an island, were completely surrounded by the one source thats 100% reliable... the tides!
Tidal energy is a great idea that is incredibly difficult to implement. For one, the sea tends to batter anything you put in it quite ferociously, it also produces less energy per area used than a lot of alternatives. On top of that, it's damaging to marine life.
Why any body thinks these things are more eco friendly is beyond me. They say the current path we our on isn’t sustainable. Well let me break to you folks neither is the one the greenies propose.
I worked on this wind farm....... It's a eco green badge for UK......bollacks...... It's a badge......it's so eco unfriendly as a coal powered station. The money they waisted on H&S. These are not eco friendly, "A" service vessel going out to service burns 3000lts of fuel No one looks at the build and dismantled costs and everything involved......just see nice blades turning. It's a piss take to the UKs failed power supply. Should of gone nuclear or better still thoriam .
Guess what. Seeing as how the north east is so wind mill happy I hope they’re ready for what’s coming. Every commercial fishing boat is going to tie there boats up and not fish. There won’t be any sea food brought to the restaurants, bars, grocery stores. These states want to disrespect fishermen and there livelihoods then I hope these states are ready for a massive drop in prophet brought in by tourist because there’s not going to be any sea food this summer. You heard it first here. The economy is going to really crash after this move. To the typical person that is boot involved in the fishing industry doesn’t realize the millions and millions of dollars brought to our economy from the fishing industry but they are about to find out.
@@rtfazeberdee3519 If you do a little research of the term fossil fuel. You will find there is no such thing, and it's a made up word by the oil companies. Also, research what goes into making this crap and your so-called fossil fuels play a huge part in making them.
Those things are gross. Industrializing the ocean. Where’s the green peace groups? Why’s it only the fishermen saying to keep these things out of the water? What about the restaurant owners, the truckers, the fish processors, the dock workers, the accountants, the fish sales managers, the lumpers, the waiters and waitresses that work at sea food restaurants, the chefs, restaurant managers. the family’s that rely on the ocean for income for hundreds of years, why aren’t they rioting? Maybe the entire fishing fleet should tie there boats up for a couple months and show the states that are giving the green light to these wind mills how much money they will actually Lose with this stupid idea. None of them want these things in the water. These things are going to destroy the economy in coastal areas.
its not their fault, its the way its calculated using the gas price as the benchmark - its a really shit system because the utility companies that only provide electricity from renewables cannot get out of this scheme and give us the proper cheap rates.
Once we got more nuclear going our power production will be more secure, wind farms do make waste and it's hard to deal with because fibreglass isn't recyclable. I saw another documentary about how they basically crush it up and dump it in buildings like mobsters getting rid of dead bodies. Don't worry though, it's not going to landfill!
As someone who is obsessed with the electricity grid, these videos satisfy my curiosity like nothing else on youtube. Really enjoy the series and hope to see more good content like this.
If you get a chance visit Invergordon and nearby Nigg. That’s where You’ll see the massive yellow bases all lined up and ready to go in the seabed.
Guy Martin is a legend. Much love from Kenya 🇰🇪
I've been fascinated by wind generation for as long as I can remember but I never thought I'd be able to work in the industry, as I was kicked out of school at 14.
Today, I'm watching this video from the wind farm in the Video! I'm working on the offshore substation seen at 2:30
Dreams CAN and do come true, no matter your background. if you want something, work for it, and it'll happen! I'm feeling blessed to finally be part of the industry and I'm hoping to work my way up to becoming a turbine installation engineer.
Go for it. Keep safe and look out for the safety of all those working with you.
We’ve had massive onshore wind farms in the Highlands of Scotland for nearly 40 years. They make really cheap power, not much over 5p a kilowatt. It’s quite windy here all year round. But we get the highest electricity bills in Europe because we live too far from London.
You can also have the cheapest power generation in the world and still be over-charged by the people who own the means. Ain't capitalism grand? This is why going off the grid is really the only alternative.
Free Scotland 🏴
It's more to do with the wind farms being privately owned and sold south of the border where they can make more money. Why would a private company sell at 5p when they can sell at market rates and generate 3-6x the revenue?
Poor gordon for not understanding how an open market works. You'll also find that on a per-capita basis your infrastructure (transmission and distribution [DNUOS and TNUOS) upkeep costs are quiter a significant portion of your bill.
When the wind doesn’t blow you need storage, so build excess generation and store for the times it’s needed. That’s what you do 💯
Awesome footage, gotta love Guy he's so wholesome!
Does he contain a lot of vitamins and minerals?
Question is though, how long do these last and can they then be recycled etc?
No, the blades can't be recycled. The rest is scrap metal, so has a value. Plus they are spending tax money to build these farms, not company money. Your wages are being funnelled off to make a lot of already rich people even richer. Reusing them would mean they lose a sale, so they make sure they have a use by date.
The carbon footprint of manufacturing one wind turbine is equal to 1,701 tons of CO2-equivalent. The UK average carbon footprint is about 10 tonnes CO2 per person per year.
They're working on it @@bobeyes3284, I can't post a link as YT won't let me, but search for 'Vestas unveils circularity solution to end landfill for turbine blades'. Once finalised this will take old blades to use as raw material to make replacement blades. At the moment they are either ground up to use in concrete as reinforcement, repurposed (I've seen some as bike shelters) or sent to landfill, although bear in mind that this is typically 10 years before they need replacement.
As for the carbon footprint aspect, whilst the overall figure you state (1701 tons) might be correct, it's a little disingenuous and needs to be put into context. They typically 'pay this back' within 6-9 months of operation. Comparing it with a individual human footprint is not a particularly useful metric for comparison. CO2 per kWh is a better perspective - "On average, considering its whole lifecycle, a wind turbine emits 26 grams of CO2-equivalent per kilowatt-hour. For comparison, coal emits up to 1,689 grams of CO2-equivalent per kilowatt-hour." - taken from '8 Billion Trees .com'
A lot of "end of life" turbines are reconditioned and put back in to service. RePower being one of the bigger firms to do this.
The blades are moving towards being fully recycleable
How many times do they reuse the coal in the alternative?
These newer blades are recyclable, the resins are acid soluble. There is no tax money going into building these (that was true of wind in the past but not any more, they're now cheap enough to not need it). Contracts are awarded by "reverse auction". Lowest bid for power price wins. Last round of UK off shore contracts bid in at 5p/kWh (domestic electricity prices are currently 35p). Design life is 25 years for the turbines.
Last year I worked here couple of weeks :D One of my best experience in my life. Love that windfarm and its amazing how huge is that :D
Would love to work on an offshore wind farm
Search for ‘ windmill accident Netherlands’.. the job is not so lovely 😅
It's not as much fun as you'd think. My normal 12 hour day is a 2 hour sail each way, spending about an hour doing paperwork before we start work. Probably only actually work 4 hours a day
@@ianstewart5840 its more the experience and the job id love the opportunity to try, im currently an approved electrician with alot of industrial experience, what is involved in getting into this field?
@@Tacticuz Papers you need to start is an offshore GWO training, oguk medical, chester step, preferably BOSIET sea training. Might be a little tough to get to an offshore straight away, however with good electrical background you should give it a try! Reach out to companies like boston energy or swire energy services. Good luck!
@@Tacticuz not too much involved, just look up companies near you that are in offshore wind and apply just like any other job. I had no wind experience before, now I'm an offshore technician for orsted. Good job, good lifestyle benefits and all that, though it can be very boring with lots of down time just sitting around
It really is an absolutely extraordinary achievement. The only downside, as they say, is the lack of consistency. That said, these will continue generating power at night or on dark cloudy days, unlike solar. The key to making all of this work best is in the non-chemical storage of electricity, such as via gravity batteries, water pumped up to lakes above hydro-turbines, etc. Makes me proud to be human.
International power export cables (interconnectors) help smooth out local wind lulls. GB grid currently has connections to Ireland (N and republic), Belgium, France, Netherlands, and Norway. Proposals are in place for interconnectors to Iceland and even Morocco, but that's a different story.
Solar can and does generate on all but the cloudiest days.
@@MaggieInABox Yes, but the output is significantly reduced, as is the daylight during Winter months. I love solar too, it just doesn't have the benefit of 24 hour operation like wind does.
Where is this Hole place the narrator mentioned?
Здоров'я бажаю овну
@@юрійорос-й2ц "Healthy, I love the ram" what does that mean?
They were at the Hornsea 2 wind farm.
It's the port of Hull on the River Humber on the east coast of England. The correct name is Kingston upon Hull but everyone calls it Hull.
Nice one guy often wondered how those things are built we have many of the coast of Ireland 👍
WOW.. well done
Guy is a legend , just the coment: "wow what a hydraulic pump it must have" :-)
They need to build one of these in Martha's Vinyard
Do they? Do they need one then?
Carbon neutral 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Did this job for 7 years much prefer my current job in a hydro power station
Can't they build hydro barriers between the wind turbines and plumb them straight into the same grid.
never knew wind power was such a controversial topic amongst low iq people 😅
It isn’t, to build wind farms and solar panels farms you have to clear land and level natural environments. They don’t work 24 seven and then you have the problem of what you do with them after there life cycle, besides having to clear natural environments there’s the effect they have on animals as they operate. They look ugly and instructive in nature. Everything would be a lot cheaper if we could pull energy out of the air, but sadly we can’t
This is baffling to me.. we've got some of the most unpredictable weather in the world and we build wind and solar farms.. both weather dependent.. when as an island, were completely surrounded by the one source thats 100% reliable... the tides!
Wind is pretty predictable
Averaged over the UK the power is more consistent
And believe me there's plenty of wine most of the time
Tidal energy is a great idea that is incredibly difficult to implement. For one, the sea tends to batter anything you put in it quite ferociously, it also produces less energy per area used than a lot of alternatives. On top of that, it's damaging to marine life.
Why any body thinks these things are more eco friendly is beyond me. They say the current path we our on isn’t sustainable. Well let me break to you folks neither is the one the greenies propose.
What we going to do pumped hydro and that can be salt water it's not as if Scotland is flat
82 000 ton of generator
Wow......there's some seriously uneducated people in these comments
Is the narrator actually Aidan Gillen or does he just think he is?
They aren’t 100% green they use oil to lubricate and use hundreds of litres
True, but they're not burning oil and pumping gases in to the atmosphere
I worked on this wind farm.......
It's a eco green badge for UK......bollacks......
It's a badge......it's so eco unfriendly as a coal powered station.
The money they waisted on H&S.
These are not eco friendly, "A" service vessel going out to service burns 3000lts of fuel
No one looks at the build and dismantled costs and everything involved......just see nice blades turning.
It's a piss take to the UKs failed power supply.
Should of gone nuclear or better still thoriam .
The commentator sounds so unwell, I can't listen to it...
Guess what. Seeing as how the north east is so wind mill happy I hope they’re ready for what’s coming. Every commercial fishing boat is going to tie there boats up and not fish. There won’t be any sea food brought to the restaurants, bars, grocery stores. These states want to disrespect fishermen and there livelihoods then I hope these states are ready for a massive drop in prophet brought in by tourist because there’s not going to be any sea food this summer. You heard it first here. The economy is going to really crash after this move. To the typical person that is boot involved in the fishing industry doesn’t realize the millions and millions of dollars brought to our economy from the fishing industry but they are about to find out.
Why is guy pushing this agenda???? I thought he was a respectable man
Me too. maybe someone has some dirt on him. He's definitely smart enough to know he's flogging a load of junk.
You guys are whoppers 😅
Yeh he seems to be doing a lot for the electric lovers
A total waste of money and resources, and a blight on the environment!
unlike fossil fuels huh?
@@rtfazeberdee3519 If you do a little research of the term fossil fuel. You will find there is no such thing, and it's a made up word by the oil companies. Also, research what goes into making this crap and your so-called fossil fuels play a huge part in making them.
Agreed, they do look pretty hideous.
@@Jamal_Tyrone 90,000 electricity pylons across Britain and strangely no one complains about them.
@MrTimbo318 90,000 electricity pylons across the whole of Britain and strangely no one complains about them.
Those things are gross. Industrializing the ocean. Where’s the green peace groups? Why’s it only the fishermen saying to keep these things out of the water? What about the restaurant owners, the truckers, the fish processors, the dock workers, the accountants, the fish sales managers, the lumpers, the waiters and waitresses that work at sea food restaurants, the chefs, restaurant managers. the family’s that rely on the ocean for income for hundreds of years, why aren’t they rioting? Maybe the entire fishing fleet should tie there boats up for a couple months and show the states that are giving the green light to these wind mills how much money they will actually
Lose with this stupid idea. None of them want these things in the water. These things are going to destroy the economy in coastal areas.
How come they sell electricity off at current market value? So it’s not any cheaper to the customers . It’s a con .😤
its not their fault, its the way its calculated using the gas price as the benchmark - its a really shit system because the utility companies that only provide electricity from renewables cannot get out of this scheme and give us the proper cheap rates.
NOW I KNOW WHY ALL THE BIRDS ARE DYING. THANKS ECO GIMPS
Don't forget to collect your paycheque at the end of your shift.
Wind can nor will ever be enough. Just a waste of resources
so keep doing the same then? ...Hmmmm that's a great plan...a plan to do nothing
What's your suggestion then?
Once we got more nuclear going our power production will be more secure, wind farms do make waste and it's hard to deal with because fibreglass isn't recyclable. I saw another documentary about how they basically crush it up and dump it in buildings like mobsters getting rid of dead bodies. Don't worry though, it's not going to landfill!
Its clean eenergy that will never run out, its one of the miricles weve been needing
Nope