Glyndebourne Wind Turbine

I recently visited the Glyndebourne wind turbine. Famous for its Opera House and arts contributions the arts organisation is the first to have installed a turbine in an attempt to become independent.

The Turbine

They want to focus on being more environmentally friendly and one project that had strong backing was the construction of a wind turbine. Initial predictions from Northern Energy suggested that on average 100% of Glyndebourne's energy would be produced by a 70m turbine, however after further research it was brought down to an estimate of 90%. For Glyndebourne this project was the largest financially-viable initiative that could be undertaken to reduce their own carbon emissions (Glyndebourne, 2012)

"There is a great beauty in seeing humanity working together with nature rather than against it. How paradoxical it is that while most people think eighteenth-century windmills are beautiful, some consider these twenty-first century windmills to be ugly. Wind turbines provide a most valuable way of reducing our carbon dioxide emissions and I fully support Glyndebourne’s initiative."

- Sir David Attenborough 

Attenborough clearly supports the project in its entirety and for all those who do not agree with the chosen location he  states that the electricity has to be generated in new renewable ways to make progress towards a more sustainable future: "If people don't like the rhythmic puffy noise it makes then that's their choice, but I can't help feeling such people haven't really grasped where energy comes from. What do they imagine happens when they turn on a light switch or drive their cars?" (Kennedy, 2012).

Gus Christie on the Turbine

The wind turbine was constructed over a period of 3 days; being completed on 3rd December 2011. The turbine is an Enercon E44 with a rotor blade length of 20.8m, standing at 67m tall with a 900kW rated power.

Construction of the turbine

Although controversial the turbine itself is now providing for the vast majority of the opera house's electricity requirements. The opinions of it being a 'blot on the landscape' (Tarver, 2012) still remain among certain residents and also The Campaign for National Parks who joined in the protest against its construction; not disagreeing with the turbine concept but its location in such an idyllic setting. However despite the contrasting opinions it is clear how much of a success the project has been from these figures below:

December  2012 and cumulative figures of turbine output (Glyndebourne,2012)

The remains of an old windmill, destroyed in 1921 are still in evidence on the site; highlighting how wind energy has been used as a natural resource to produce energy for over 5000 years.

Turbine and information board

Old windmill remains

Old & New

The turbine has built-in lightning protection and storm control features which reduces operation when extremely high wind speeds occur; preventing shutdowns causing energy generation losses. It is expected to reduce carbon emissions of the opera house by around 50%.

I believe the Glyndebourne project to be a very successful example of individual construction of a turbine. Being the first UK arts organisation to have taken this initiative, Glyndebourne are at the forefront of the increasing trend of adopting more environmentally friendly energy production methods. 

To read more on Glyndebourne's commitment to protecting the environment click here or to specifically see more information about the wind turbine that has been constructed click here.


References
Glyndebourne, (2012) Our Wind Turbine, [online] available at: http://glyndebourne.com/our-wind-turbine-0

Kennedy, M. (2012) Glyndebourne wind turbine met with cheers and jeers, The Guardian, [online] available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/20/glyndebourne-wind-turbine-launch

Tarver, N. (2012) Glyndbourne wind turbine divides opinion, BBC News, [online] available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-16654865