Feasibility Study of Orkney's Windfarm Development for Self Sufficient for Energy in Electricity Demand and Road Transport Sectors

Abstract

In Orkney islands, a number of wind energy projects have been established due to its potential for wind energy development especially as cluster developments on hilltop and moorland.This Self-sufficient Orkney Wind Energy (SOWE) project is trying to follow this pattern of development and has designed as a simple linear development of medium-large scale wind turbines which avoids dominating the landscape, while providing diversification required for the energy security, along with strong economic benefits to the local community.The developer completed preliminary designs and landscape assessment, resulting in the detailed design and the development of 27 wind turbine project for the expectation to generated electricity of 549.2 GWh annually.The SOWE project has been designed and selected the use of the Enercon E44 -900 kW and Norex N80 -2.5 MW wind turbines.These machines represent the maximum scale, respectively, as;• the site layout and all modelling have used a 45m, and 60m turbine tower height;• a rotor diameter of 44 m, and 80 m; and • The blade length is 22 m and 40 m.It has been found that the SOWE project provides a promising contribution towards the Scottish Government renewable energy production and carbon reduction targets.