Wind generators
Wind generators or wind turbines, either singly or in arrays called ‘wind farms’, use propeller blades to catch the wind. The spinning blades act as turbines to generate electricity, which can either be fed into the national grid, or harvested locally through storage in power cells (batteries). To offset the heavy investment necessary for their manufacture and installation, they must be positioned to catch the strongest and steadiest winds possible; in a mountainous country like Greece, this usually means along the tops of mountain and hill ranges. For the same reason, the trend is for each generation of wind turbines to be taller, larger and more massive than their predecessors; in future, they are projected to reach 250 m tall including the rotor.. There is a continued, fierce and as yet unresolved argument over whether the environmental cost of manufacturing and installing wind turbines (their carbon footprint) outweighs their environmental benefits. However, two factors about wind turbines are incontestable: the first is that they are currently being heavily promoted by investors worldwide, and the second is that that nobody has so far addressed the considerable problem of safely decommissioning these behemoths, which have an average lifetime of less than 20 years.
Latest Posts
Sustainable locations for wind parks
Wind energy is the leading renewable technology towards achieving climate goals, yet biodiversity trade-offs via land take are emerging. Thus,...
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Floating wind farms: What is Greece doing in the Aegean?
The launch of an open public consultation for the formation of a new operational institutional framework for marine wind farms...
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Wind turbines out-competed by Covid-19
Wind and solar investment collapses post-pandemic and Covid-19 proves to be the world’s greatest carbon reduction program. Click on the...
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Power reliability wind turbines
Power reliability coming from wind turbines is found to be well below 10%, requiring ever-running backups from expensive natural gass...
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Greek environment minister: wind turbines a tourist attraction!
It is often disheartening to realise to what extent the Greek public are treated like idiots not just by those...
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Windturbines: truth behind the myth
An online article in Kosmodromio about the thruth behind the wind farm industry (in Greek). Click on the image to...
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Germany: Mutiny in the Land of Wind Turbines
Spiegel International published an extended article by Matthias Shulz in July 2013 which took a long, withering look at the...
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Experts urge rethink of wind farm plans
Experts are urging Greek authorities to suspend the development of new wind parks on Natura-protected sites, arguing that planned facilities...
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Wind turbine causes large bushfire
It is estimated that worldwide more than 117 separate fires are breaking out in turbines annually. These fires are a...
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Fires cause of wind farm failure
Fire is the second leading cause of accidents in wind turbines, after blade failure, according to research out today. Wind...
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Wind farm projects at risk
The global wind power boom is facing a sharp slowdown as coronavirus restrictions hit supply chains, threatening projects with delay...
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Worn-out turbines could cost billions
According to power companies the life time of a wind turbine is about 20 years. But in reallity after about...
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The transportation problem
The most cursory glance at a map of Kythera and the slightest familiarity with the nature of the terrain makes...
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