Wind turbine blades.
- Thread starter t-tony
- Start date
Using old turbine blades to make bridges.
What will they do in another 50 years when the bridges get upgraded. Use the material to make cans to "kick down the road" for another 50 years.
What will they do in another 50 years when the bridges get upgraded. Use the material to make cans to "kick down the road" for another 50 years.
Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth build super yachts and they have a "sideline" building these blades for wind turbines. They have the room, the skills and capacity and it keeps things ticking over between the big jobs
Today as I went to St Ives I met a man with seven wives...OK actually I didn't...but I did see a lot of wind turbines quite close up and was surprised how big the buggers were. Also had no idea the blades 'wore out'...I can understand the motors and bearings and moving parts would wear out but not the blades themselves, I guess the wind and rain take their toll.
I don't understand the demand for those turbines. They're a bl**dy eysore. Blight on the landscape etc.
A few years ago they were looking at putting tidal turbines on the south wales coast. Perfect spot there seeing as how that south wales coast has one of the world's biggest tidal lifts.
Think about it. The tide happens regular as clockwork. They know in advance, years in advance, exactly how much water will flow, when it will flow and how much power will be generated.
But I guess there wasn't enough palms being greased so it didn't get the go-ahead and instead we get these f ing eyesores popping up everywhere.
A few years ago they were looking at putting tidal turbines on the south wales coast. Perfect spot there seeing as how that south wales coast has one of the world's biggest tidal lifts.
Think about it. The tide happens regular as clockwork. They know in advance, years in advance, exactly how much water will flow, when it will flow and how much power will be generated.
But I guess there wasn't enough palms being greased so it didn't get the go-ahead and instead we get these f ing eyesores popping up everywhere.
Next to tidal energy wind has to be the next best thing. There are quite a few around us but you just don't notice them after a while.
Tony.
Tony.
Tidal, as in tidal stream is an oil & gas power generation extinctor, hence why it won't happen. Tidal flow is constant around the clock, not based on lift. Nova Scotia and France had test demonstrators of Open Hydro that worked, too well for the O&G lobby.
The South Wales thing was a tidal lagoon, too many tree huggers blew that out of the water.
Offshore wind where the wind volume is pretty constant was subject to atypical UK PLC failure of 1860s mindset from government and construction industry. Lost £85bn inward investment for 15Mw turbines. Largest currently is 11.8Mw, and still not on stream. Too many politicians and project people involved building in waste and cost, not enough Engineers involved. Sad indictment of where UK has lost the plot.
In respect of blades, a small Isle of Wight co delivered 104m long blades over a decade ago, only just being married to turbines. UK are so backward.
Not that I know anything of these things
Lots of other stuff going on that has to fight O&G interests. They don't call it big oil for no reason
An interesting topic, not the chocolate bar.
The South Wales thing was a tidal lagoon, too many tree huggers blew that out of the water.
Offshore wind where the wind volume is pretty constant was subject to atypical UK PLC failure of 1860s mindset from government and construction industry. Lost £85bn inward investment for 15Mw turbines. Largest currently is 11.8Mw, and still not on stream. Too many politicians and project people involved building in waste and cost, not enough Engineers involved. Sad indictment of where UK has lost the plot.
In respect of blades, a small Isle of Wight co delivered 104m long blades over a decade ago, only just being married to turbines. UK are so backward.
Not that I know anything of these things
Lots of other stuff going on that has to fight O&G interests. They don't call it big oil for no reason
An interesting topic, not the chocolate bar.
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It also had quite a bit to do with the dodgy character behind the scheme, also something to do with estimated costs of twice what the same amount of nuclear would have cost. And nuclear ain't exactly cheap, still, luckily, we "took back control" and handed the next generation of nukes to the French and Chinese. Can't see any problems coming down that road. Oh no.
Its not that they wear out as such, the have a 25 year life span due to streses placed on them. Much like many other items in engineering.
Currently around 300 000 + turbines around the world giving 1 million+ blades to replace eventually - thats a lot of bridges over small streams
Dxbolton
Zorg Guru (II)
There are parts of Texas turned into blade graveyards, as they forget to mention in the Greenwashing that the blades cannot be recycled or repurposed, so they lay around for 1000’s of years deteriorating
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A bit like the thousands of tons of radioactive waste from the nuclear power stations that will be dangerous for a few thousand years. At least turbine blades won't kill you, unless you get a bit stupid with them. And you can't legislate against stupid.
Thought that I would have a look online and found this :-
Are wind turbine blades recycled in Europe ?
"Plans to start taking end-of-life blades by the end of 2023.
A second facility is being lined up in the UK followed by four more in France, Germany, Spain, and Turkey.
It is reported that each factory will have the capacity to recycle more than 36 000 tonnes of end- of-life turbine blades per year."
16 jan 2023
Alpine White Z4's ....
Thank the Lord mine's half red !
Tony.
Tony.
Thats ok, they got paint
What're they made of?
Edit. I googled it. Seems they're mostly fibreglass. There's gotta be some use for a 150ft pieces of fibreglass.
Edit. I googled it. Seems they're mostly fibreglass. There's gotta be some use for a 150ft pieces of fibreglass.
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If they were made of aluminium there would a queue of men in Transit pickups waiting to collect them.
Tony.
Tony.
If they'd made them out of aluminium we wouldn't be having this conversation. The blades would cost more but be infinitely recycled.
But i expect (hope) there's a technical reason (ie not just upfront cost) why they can't use alu or some other recyclable material.
But i expect (hope) there's a technical reason (ie not just upfront cost) why they can't use alu or some other recyclable material.