The Burgar hill wind turbines on the North of mainland Orkney SCO 5787
The Burgar Hill wind energy project began as a research site in the early 1980s, and over the last two decades has seen a variety of wind turbines installed, originally for research purposes and latterly for commercial generation. The site currently has five turbines, varying in scale from the Nordex N60 turbine, to the Neg Micon NM92; tip heights vary from 76m to 116m. The site has been designed by Orkney Sustainable Energy to take advantage of the rolling nature of the landscape, and by positioning the largest turbines off the highest ground and placing the smallest turbines on the exposed hilltops, the site layout appears well balanced. The difference in tips heights is not apparent, and the difference in rotor diameter across the site is interpreted as an effect of varying distances from the viewer; smaller turbines are thought to be further away and larger turbines nearer, although in reality the site layout follows a gradual curve along the ridge. Note that distance from viewpoints by itself does not determine significance; one of the turbines is less than 80m tip height, yet this turbine appears more significant than the adjacent 100m turbine due to the higher elevation and the prominent nature of the location.
Size: 5620px × 3733px
Location: Burgar Hill, Kirkwall, Orkney, Highland Region, Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: , 1980s, , adjacent, avoid, bird, birds, blades, breeding, burgar, cloud, consultation, divers, early, eco-power, electricity, elevated, energy, environment:, environmental, evie, flight, full, hill, , impact, intrusion, landscape, larger, locations, loch, lowries, micon, months, n60, native, neg, nesting, nm92159m, noise, nordex, orkney, pairs, parish, paths., positioned, power, red-throated, rendall, renewable, research, reserve, rotate, rspb, site, sky, skyline, small, snow, summer, sustainable, tall, turbines, uk, visual, water, wind, winter
