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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barred Wobbler" data-source="post: 1621640" data-attributes="member: 69394">The big modern turbines that they are installing these days have an installed output of 2 or 3 Megawatts, say 2.5MW. They are over 400 feet tall (c120m) and the blades are 50 m long, so they sweep a circle of air 100m diameter with blade tip speeds around 175mph (280kph), so they aren't comparable with 400 foot high buildings when it comes to bird strikes. Buildings don't approach birds at the speed of a light aircraft every second and a half.So assuming an average load factor of 26%, one turbine will produce 0.65MW. A nuclear power station will have an output of 1,300 to 1,600MW, so It would take about two and a half thousand turbines to equal (but not displace) the output from a single nuke.Coal fired stations such as Ferrybridge have capacities of 2 GW, but a load factor of about 70% (variable depending on demand), so they put out about 1,400 MW - similar to a nuke. Drax in Yorkshire is the biggest of the lot at 4GW (4,000MW). In Scotland Longannet on the Firth of Forth is 2.4GW (2,400 MW)Put it another way. The 3.9GW current installed capacity of every turbine in the UK will actually produce 1GW, about two-thirds of a nuke.As I said above our peak demand (often a calm cold spell in winter) requires a production of 66GW from various means. The demand from breakfast-time to tea-time today was roughly constant at 45 to 47GW, rising to this evening's peak about an hour ago of 49GW. It's just dropped back slightly and it's 45.9GW as I type.A power station takes up ground space of about a square mile. 2,500 wind turbines spaced about 500m apart, each with its own 5m wide access road would take up a hell of a sight more.</blockquote>

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