Ripple Energy wind farm?

Coastalwatch

will-he-payitoff said:

Coastalwatch

Royd Moor wind farm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royd_Moor_Wind_Farm

will-he-payitoff Many thanks for the link it's really interesting given that it has lasted 30 years and due for decommissioning this year. Unfortunately I've not been able to discover any capacity factors in relation to it or indeed whether the site is to be re populated, if so by how many and what output the turbines might be. It appears to have it's own website with limited information to the general public but a considerable subscription is requested to gain further access. Apparently the owners are EON so it is likely they who will, or have decided.

From our own view of just having taken a share in Ripples first wind farm it sure would be interesting to follow the story of Royd Moor further to give us an idea of what might be achieveable at the end of a turbines lifetime.

I know it's 25 years hence but an important aspect for those inheriting our share along with the generations who are to follow!

Alnat1

The Ovenden Moor wind farm is also owned by Eon, fairly close to Royd Moor and both were originally built around the same time, early 1990s.

The Ovenden site was decommissioned around 5 years ago and the 23 turbines now replaced with 9 larger ones.  

Alnat1

Ripple 3 - It's a solar park!

Email came through this morning, not sure how I feel about this as I already have solar.....

Coastalwatch

Alnat1 said:

Ripple 3 - It's a solar park!

Email came through this morning, not sure how I feel about this as I already have solar.....

I have solar as well, but providing the returns are similar to wind, ie our utility account gets creditted each month with the sum our share generates then I've no issue with it.

I appreciate wind performs better in the winter but we need all the renewable energy the UK can muster and it would appear to make sense for Ripple to diversify rather than putting all eggs into one basket.

But I appreciate that on first glance it may be disappointing for those with solar who were hoping for a windfarm.

Alnat1

Still gonna give it a go although the thought of one day visiting my panels isn't quite as exciting as visiting your "windmill" 

Exiled_Tyke

Coastalwatch said:

Alnat1 said:

Ripple 3 - It's a solar park!

Email came through this morning, not sure how I feel about this as I already have solar.....

I have solar as well, but providing the returns are similar to wind, ie our utility account gets creditted each month with the sum our share generates then I've no issue with it.

I appreciate wind performs better in the winter but we need all the renewable energy the UK can muster and it would appear to make sense for Ripple to diversify rather than putting all eggs into one basket.

But I appreciate that on first glance it may be disappointing for those with solar who were hoping for a windfarm.

Agree wholeheartedly CW so I've taken the plunge and put a deposit down even though I already have solar at home.  I think I would have prefered another wind but perhaps this will compliment better as you say.  I'm also hoping that timescales for solar farm will be shorter than for a wind farm.  

Martyn1981

Hiya just had a look at the offer, then had a chat on-line as the info seemed totally wrong.

Looks like the calculator is still based on wind, so the returns (per Watt purchased) are about 3x too high. Took a while for them to understand me, but are now looking into it, having confirmed the calculator is still wind based, and misleading for PV based quotes.

But ..... no negatives meant, still love the idea.

70sbudgie

As the panels on my house are E-W facing, I think a solar farm will actually complement nicely. And as it will be a monthly credit to my account, it should offset the use that my solar panels can't cover.

The other upside to solar over wind is that it is a lot quicker to build. So we should see returns sooner than if it were wind. This will depend on where and how big the solar park is - will it be ~50MW?

Martyn1981

Well Ripple don't waste time do they. Yesterday my quote for 6,000kWh was (from memory) about £3.5k, for 1.9kW, generating 6,000kWh pa.

Today it's changed to this:

If you purchased:

5,999 Watts, this would generate:

6,000 kWh of electricity per year

You could save:

£578 estimated first-year savings, assuming full generation in 2025

£13,794 over the 40 year lifespan of the project

1,274 kg of CO2 each year

Choose to pay in 12 x £450 monthly instalments or £5,351 single payment

View more potential saving scenarios

Which looks fair and reasonable. I'm impressed.

And @70sbudgie, I was thinking exactly the same, as I've been planning to install a 2kWp south facing groundmount for winter gen.

NedS

@Martyn1981 Thanks for crunching the numbers. So how does this compare to a wind farm?

Also, I note above, you mention 40 year lifespan of the project - is this more than for the previous wind projects, and how does that impact on returns? As someone in my mid 50's, I may not live another 40 years but happy to pass it on if we don't.

This potentially seems a lot more appealing (and efficient) to me than putting solar panels on my roof which would generate very little in winter when our usage increases, and way more than I can use in summer (without the additional expense of batteries). In contrast, with ripple I'm getting a fairly consistent price for electricity generated, so although not saving so much on any I'd generate and use myself, but equally benefiting from not selling the summer surplus back to the grid for peanuts. (plus we do not intend to stay at our current property long-term)