Control Engineering

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From the land of windmills
May 23, 2008

Earlier this week I was on a plane crossing the North Sea on a flight from London to Amsterdam. As we got closer to the coastline, from the window (looking north) I could see at least a dozen tankers waiting at anchor presumably for entry into Rotterdam, and then I spotted two offshore wind farms. There were two groups of wind generators, one with 60 some turbines and the other with about 22. As I examined the larger group more closely, I could see that perhaps half the units scattered through  the group weren't turning. Closer examination showed that many of those did not have all three blades, and there was no evidence that they were still under construction, such as scaffolding, service barges, etc.

The turbines in the smaller group were all running. Once we came over land, there were more turbines, including some large units in urban areas. Amsterdam is not known for tall buildings, and structures more than 10 stories are pretty rare. I understand that even small structures have to be built on pilings. Given the wind speed most of the time even at street level, it's no wonder that Holland has a tradition of wind power.

All in all, while my time in Amsterdam was short, it struck me that I was seeing a society built on a basic assumption that energy is scarce. Bicycles are still a major form of transportation for people of all ages and genders. The primary way of getting in and out of the airport appears to be trains rather than cars. As urban population density in the U.S. increases, these European models will likely serve as our template.

Posted by Peter Welander on May 23, 2008 | Comments (0)