The new turbine at the Lighthouse rose into position on Saturday afternoon and, by the evening, had produced its first electricity. The machine is a 20kw Westwind, built in Ireland and installed by Shetland Wind Power.
The raising was done entirely by hand, with two men, one from Shetland Wind Power, the other from local electrician West Coast Electrical, providing the muscle. It came up remarkably quickly, an earlier problem, caused by the hinge which joins the base plate to the bottom of the tower not being straight, having been overcome.Detail of the hinge is shown in this photo. As the tower came vertical it was caught on a jack and lowered steadily into position. The base plate is bolted into the solid rock upon which the lighthouse is built.
Since the tower came up the wind has been a convenient and steady northwester, producing, in the first 36 hours of operation, some 250kw. At peak output the turbine clocked 21kw in an hour.The turbine is owned by Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Trust which runs the Visitors' Centre at the Lighthouse. ALT is providing a display giving the public live data from the turbine and from the weather station attached to it, and plans to spend all profits from selling electricity to the grid on further improvements in the exhibition centre .
Very interesting - what was t fully-installed price and the average windspeed at hub height?
ReplyDeleteCllr Graham - Stirling
May I suggest you contact Shetland Wind Power who installed the turbine - I'm sure they'll be pleased to answer your questions. You'll find them at http://www.shetlandwindpower.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteHow High is the mill ?
ReplyDeleteThe turbine is a Westwind 20kw, which has two tower heights. I think ours is 15m high. Details at http://www.segen.co.uk/eng/wind/westwind.htm
ReplyDeleteWhen you going to paint the beautyfull FOGHORN ?
ReplyDeleteI made a Painting of the Foghorn and a vieuw out of the laternroom of the Lighthouse