Stafford Station Wind Turbines

[dangie]

Does anyone know why the two wind turbines installed on the roof of the multistory car park at Stafford Station don't appear to have been in use for the last year or so. Or that is how it appears every time I pass there.

 

[nlogax]

They've been up there for eight full years, I recall something about powering lights or the ticket machines - can't remember where I read it. Where I've seen that particular design of turbine beside major roads or atop buildings they've more often been idle than whizzing round. Maybe a common design issue?

 

[InTheEastMids]

In general, building-mounted wind turbines perform poorly because the airflow in built-up areas is turbulent (EST 2009 study is the most authoritative piece of work on small-scale wind turbines), so it's likely they never worked that well.

At 8 years old, there's a good chance they've failed unless somebody has been up there maintaining them, and a lot of companies have been through restructuring/bankruptcy or disappeared altogether, so spare parts may be a problem too

 

[Elecman]

Not just at Stafford but also Wigan and Preston

 

[edwin_m]

Didn't VT build all these multi-storey car parks about the same time (2000ish?) and add the turbines as a bit of greenwash?

 

[whhistle]

The ones at Rugby haven't worked recently either...

 

[driver_m]

Sure you can add Runcorn to that long list as well. Compared to the giant turbines elsewhere, they probably generated only small amounts of power .

 

[gazthomas]

Sure you can add Runcorn to that long list as well. Compared to the giant turbines elsewhere, they probably generated only small amounts of power .

But enough to keep the ticket machines going

 

[driver_m]

But enough to keep the ticket machines going

No we get that through alternative power sources That's where we keep the station cats, on the internal treadmills, they have to earn their keep. Mice don't cut it anymore.

 

[Elecman]

The vertically mounted turbines are a design failure