Electricity from wind power ...

[muppetanimal]

.... was going to keep the lights on, or so I was told

Maybe I have missed something, but being increasingly surrounded by things that would bring fear to Don Quixote, why is it that, even although they were still spinning round, that the area was left powerless ?

Power being generated in Kintyre was going .... where ?

[MurkyLitFelon]

Because there was a power cut. You can't 'feed in' to a system which is no longer there, which effectively disconnects all windfarms for safety reasons.

Regarding home PV/wind systems, most of these sold in the UK are designed just to make money, not provide a useful backup when the lights go out - for that you need a hybrid system that can run 'off grid'.

[D10jimmy]

If your seeing turbines spinning even tho the power is off, theyre probably just free wheeling. it illegal to feed into a closed Power grid.

[muppetanimal]

Thanks to D10jimmy and MurkyLitFelon for their responses but I had really made the point about the power generation in the form of a rhetorical question in the spirit of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner......

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

[Niander]

Why didn't they power a closed grid for Cambeltown then powered by the turbines?
or have a means of doing so in an emergency such as this?
At least then they actually would be some use to someone!

[democat101]

Hmm..I wonder how much £££££ is been paid out to the local wind farms, daily, to keep them turned off?

[D10jimmy]

Democat - SSe have been trying to get them going for a couple days, and seeing as its themselfs that operate Tangy and the lussa dam i doubt they will be wanting them off for too long.

Niander - What your suggesting is (i think) what they have done, or at least thats what they were trying. First problem was actually getting to the windfarm, second, actually repairing the lines to have a grid to power and then connect to, and then the third was getting generators connected that could give enopugh to energise all the systems. also they had never cold started Lussa before and didnt really know what would happen.

hope that clears some of it up, that all came from engineers i was speaking to regarding getting our own 2 up and running, which they now also are.