Wind not good for wind farms...

[Andrew Gabriel]

Interesting pics at 16:47, 16:38, and 14:48 (might be same as first one)...

[Jethro]

[fred]

In article , Andrew Gabriel writes

The one in flames I found particularly amusing.

That said, the gusts have been particularly fierce, going from nothing to 80mph in half a second so I'm not surprised things are breaking.

Plenty of brownouts here as lines take hits and that's the effect of distant ones as HV city feeds are underground for miles.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The bbc rolling commentary (

) reminds me so totally of the 1963 private eye spoof.

You know when the country was under snow for 3 months..

It started with -

"-1C. snow causes traffic chaos, blah" went through

"-5C seals come ashore in scotland: Old Scottish git says 'I nivver seen that afore' "

but the coup de grace at the bottom was:

"-25C: fires in British Rail waiting rooms lit".

(in the days when we had steam trains, coal, British Rail and indeed waiting rooms, and someone to light the fires)

[Andrew Gabriel]

Here it is in more detail...

Got a colleague stuck at the airport at the moment. Apparently, British Airways is recommending a "full trip" to the lavatory prior to departure. I guess that's polite speak for number 1's and number 2's...

[fred]

In article , Andrew Gabriel writes

others appear to be face into. I wonder if there is a failure mode issue there. Can't really tell whether the blades on it or others have been stopped to avoid over-wind damage. Ardrossan is a relatively low level coastal site but fully exposed to the prevailing storm force winds (well storm force gusts at least).

Yep, today I'd be looking for excuses to stay over, whatever the cost. I'm not risk averse but these conditions have high multiples on likelihood of disaster so I'd rather be at home (or in a hotel).

[The Natural Philosopher]

>> =11_3_8_4_9_10__CD11__CK12_14_15_

Jesus H!

there's lumps falling off that - some of them on fire - and going hundreds of ywarsd!

And they want to put these things up 400 yards from where people LIVE!!!

I landed once in conditions like this..on the short diagonal runway at Heathrow into the teeth of a souwester.

ill swear the airspeed was about 250 knots till touchdown, but it stopped awful quick.

The last 5 miles were 'interesting' bit like a roller coaster with e engines surging and cutting as we bounced from wave to to wave top.

almost rivals Lufthansa with the fog/low cloud - pilot decided to ignore the glide path and droped down to about 800 feet some 15 miles away from Zaventem. Delusions of being an ME108 on a strafing run...

Top memory though is Guernsey on a 45mph cross wind ad LOTS of turbulence.

I really didn't think he would actually not abort that one..we were half way down the runway canted over and sideways before the first wheel touched. Full credit. He had nearly 12 feet of runway left when we stopped..

[ARWadsworth]

It's the one that dennis designed. It uses the elecricity made by the other wind turbines to generate wind.

[The Natural Philosopher]

been pretty successful at it today then :-)

Can we just give Scotland independence now so we don't have to pay for it all?

Or buy their overpriced and unreliable wind?

In fact, can we by an Act of Parliament, make harry's house part of Scotland as well?

[Bob Eager]

One report said it "hadn't been turned on". So there was probably no control system operational.

Not that that says a lots for fail-safe systems.

[The Natural Philosopher]

should have been feathered and the handbrake on..mind you if it wasn't feathered and the handbrake WAS on...that would explain the fire..

Or windmills in general.

The actual versus projected wind output for the UK suggests all the Scottish farms have shut down, or gone on strike and are sulking.

[The Other Mike]

>>> =11_3_8_4_9_10__CD11__CK12_14_15_

I object to them anywhere within 4000 miles.

Dangerous at any speed

[The Other Mike]

[Brian Gaff]

Still nice little job fixing them all coming up I'd imagine. Brian

[ARWadsworth]

Looks like the Nordics want them.

[Davey]

That's what the insurance company said when I claimed for water damage in a storage unit. After official pressure, they caved in and paid.

[Andy Burns]

I think the one that planted itself (rather than incinerated itself) was a private 30m "baby" one on a farm, not part of a windfarm, according to radio reports.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Probably wont bother.

No grants for fixing em.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Great idea. Put all the Cnuts in one country.

[The Other Mike]