Small things and then a wind farm Traditional Cache
Bush Barker: Gone with the wind... Never drive this way anymore.... Bye
Small things and then a wind farm
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(micro)
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A park and grab next to the Gouda Wind Farm
The Gouda Wind Facility is the first wind farm in South Africa to use concrete towers. Steel towers are imported while concrete towers can be manufactured locally. Another advantage is that one can build taller towers, up to 120 m, at a reduced energy cost. At full capacity Gouda will supply enough power for 146 000 low income homes or 60 000 medium income homes. Each blade of the three-blade turbine is 50 m long and the pitch of the blades is increased as wind speed drops to increase the torque and maintain the rotation speed. If the wind speed increases the pitch will be decreased to reduce the torque. At wind speeds of around 20 m/s at the hub height (that is around 70 km/h) the turbines are shut down. In rural areas the turbine blades are required to generate no more than 35 decibels of sound which is classified as less noise than a normal conversation. When one sees these turbine blades rotating they always look as if they are in slow motion. A bit of mathematics reveals that if the rotor is turning at 10 revolutions per minute the tips of those 50 m long blades are travelling at over 180 km/h. Low flying birds cannot judge the speed of those rotor tips correctly and, because the rotors taper, the tips are far less visible than the sections closer to the hub, so they fly into them, with fatal results. This is especially the case for large, slow birds like geese, pelicans, cranes and storks. Raptors tend to be watching for prey on the ground so they also often fall foul of the blades. From an environmental perspective, it is important that wind farms should not be built on the migration routes of these birds, or in areas where they congregate to feed or breed.
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(Decrypt)
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