Browse content similar to Ocean Powerhouse. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Our World. We go offshore to see if at harnessing the winner in the | :00:06. | :00:13. | |
Asian could be the answer to our energy needs. - May the wind up. | :00:13. | :00:20. | |
Thousands of wind turbines are rising from the sea. One of the | :00:20. | :00:27. | |
most ambitious construction projects in the world. Britain is a | :00:27. | :00:37. | |
:00:37. | :00:39. | ||
pioneer. -- harnessing the wind. Everything is new. But working out | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
at sea is much tougher than on land and the cost is much higher. It is | :00:45. | :00:52. | |
inherently complicated. It is in a difficult environment. It is | :00:52. | :01:00. | |
staggeringly expensive. So in the drive for carbon-free electricity, | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
does it makes sense to turn for to the Asian for this new kind of | :01:04. | :01:14. | |
:01:14. | :01:22. | ||
power house. -- turned to the Asian. -- turn to the ocean. -- | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:34. | ||
powerhouse? The story begins on dry land. At the dockyards where they | :01:34. | :01:40. | |
built the Titanic. These are components for a new wind farm. | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
They are enormous. Before they are installed out at sea, this is our | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
best chance to get a sense of their scale. This is the tip of one of | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
the largest wind turbines in the world. Here in Belfast is the | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
assembly area for a new wind farm for the Irish Sea. It is difficult | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
to understand the scale of this project. This one played weighs 22 | :02:09. | :02:18. | |
tonnes. It is 61 metres long. It takes a while to walk to the other | :02:18. | :02:27. | |
end. This is slightly longer than the entire wing span of a Boeing | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
747 jumbo jet. The whole thing is made of fibreglass. It sounds | :02:33. | :02:40. | |
pretty robust. As you can tell, the nearer we get to this end, the | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
thicker and more robust the whole structure becomes. You can imagine | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
the kind of stresses and strains of this would experience, buffeted out | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
in the ocean. We have made it to the end. How do they fit these on | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
to the hub? This one has three plates fitted all ready. It is | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
about to be loaded on to a ship. Let me show you how they fit it. | :03:09. | :03:17. | |
The key is these: 128 of these massive bolts fitted in a ring to | :03:17. | :03:27. | |
:03:27. | :03:28. | ||
hold the blade inside here. When each plate is fitted, eight | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
delicate manoeuvre followers. Moving them takes real care. -- | :03:34. | :03:43. | |
follows. Everything is controlled from a tiny cab with a bird's-eye | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
view. The little red bubble is where the driver sits. Robert | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
Childs has one of the strangers jobs. Inside the crane, a staircase | :03:54. | :04:02. | |
leads him to the controls. He ends up suspended high above the ground. | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
I joined him inside. It is cramped. The next stage of the work is about | :04:07. | :04:17. | |
:04:17. | :04:19. | ||
to begin. How high are we? 100m. are right above these slender | :04:19. | :04:29. | |
:04:29. | :04:30. | ||
plates. You a lifting them around. How difficult is that? They are bit | :04:30. | :04:39. | |
lighter. So why we rely a lot on the ground crew to keep them as | :04:39. | :04:48. | |
steady as possible. How tense is that for you? It is nerve-racking. | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
There is a lot of pressure. They are not something you want to | :04:54. | :05:04. | |
:05:04. | :05:07. | ||
bounce about. Inch by inch, the Blades a lifted off the ground. | :05:07. | :05:14. | |
Their immense size takes getting used to. -- plates. This is cutting | :05:14. | :05:24. | |
:05:24. | :05:33. | ||
edge technology. But it still needs Brits strength. -- bldes. --brute. | :05:33. | :05:41. | |
-- blades. The giant crane moves along the tracks, carrying its | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
Precious cargo. This is the process speeded up. Each wind farm is built | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
slightly differently. New technologies and techniques are | :05:52. | :06:01. | |
being tried out all the time. a new industry and we learn from | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
everything we do. That is the key that anybody coming on to the | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
project has the ability to suggest a new way of doing things. We are | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
open to suggestions by people working on the project, even people | :06:16. | :06:26. | |
:06:26. | :06:27. | ||
at home watching this. The final stage of loading. Britain has more | :06:27. | :06:35. | |
offshore wind installations than any other country, but deter mines | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
-- but the Tote odds here are German, and the power company | :06:39. | :06:49. | |
:06:49. | :06:51. | ||
behind the project it is Swedish. - - but deterred bines here. -- the | :06:51. | :07:01. | |
:07:01. | :07:03. | ||
turbines here. But how reliable are these? It will be interesting to | :07:03. | :07:11. | |
see if these breakdowns a single events or a pattern. We may have to | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
change the equipment every eight use. That would seriously dampen | :07:16. | :07:23. | |
the expansion of offshore wind turbines. The barge is towed very | :07:23. | :07:33. | |
:07:33. | :07:37. | ||
cautiously offshore. About junior art to see is much faster. -- our | :07:37. | :07:44. | |
journey out to sea. We travel by high-speed catamaran. The crew know | :07:44. | :07:51. | |
the route well. It takes us past wind farms already built. Out at | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
the site, one of the biggest challenges is fixing the | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
foundations. 1 wind farm starters subsiding. At this want they | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
hammered the legs 40m deep into the ocean floor. It is all more | :08:05. | :08:14. | |
difficult than on land. There are still many unknowns. We are still | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
in the early stages of the industry. The foundations are expensive but | :08:19. | :08:26. | |
will most likely reduce in costing coming years. But you also have the | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
operations, using vessels to get to deter mines, are very expensive | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
installation vessel. All of these costs are not included in the | :08:36. | :08:46. | |
:08:46. | :08:53. | ||
onshore wind farms. -- to get to the turn binds. -- Tobias. -- | :08:53. | :09:03. | |
turbines. Some experts say offshore wind is not affordable. Offshore | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
wind is an expensive and difficult way of reducing carbon emissions. | :09:07. | :09:14. | |
There are better and cheaper ways. Climate change is not something we | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
can the experiment for, building an almost projects offshore. Climate | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
change is something urgent which requires us to do something quickly. | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
To choose one of the most expensive ways to reduce those admissions, | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
rather than using cheaper, more direct routes, is a luxury that | :09:33. | :09:41. | |
consumers and the planet cannot afford. This wind farm cost about | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
�500 million. Quite a price tag. But the industry says it is worth | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
it and that future projects will be cheaper stop you there we are | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
confident that the cost will fall significantly in the next 10 or 20 | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
years. People are worried about the rise in their power bills. Then on | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
top of that, the extra cost of going Greens. But you must | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
understand the alternatives to not investing in renewable energy. That | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
will be a world that cannot tackle climate change and all that means. | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
As we draw near, the sea Jack is still down at sea level ready for | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
us to climb aboard. One of the trickiest things is getting from | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
one vessel to another. Here we are lucky. We can use this ladder. And | :10:33. | :10:43. | |
:10:43. | :11:06. | ||
The ECJ crisis as soon as we are on. Bundles of cables start to moves. - | :11:06. | :11:15. | |
- sea jack. As you can see in this time-lapse footage, it rises in the | :11:15. | :11:24. | |
water, standing on its lakes with us on it. -- legs. What happens | :11:24. | :11:34. | |
now? The power is about to be assembled. This is the lower | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
section, waiting for it is a team of technicians, dwarfed by the size | :11:42. | :11:52. | |
:11:52. | :12:02. | ||
of it. The tower needs to be lined up exactly. The giant tube is | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
rotated very gingerly. Eventually, a particular pin is guided by hand | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
into the right place and the section can be lowered into its | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
final position. The operation is masterminded from the bridge. At | :12:15. | :12:25. | |
:12:25. | :12:39. | ||
the high-tech control room, the captain keeps watch. Have you have | :12:39. | :12:46. | |
been through some pretty big storms? Yes, we were lucky to get | :12:46. | :12:56. | |
:12:56. | :13:06. | ||
out. The day wears on. The tower is ready, but there is still a lot to | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
do. The next essential component is raised into place. Each component | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
has to be carefully lifted into place and now it is the turn of the | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
giant box that contains the gearbox, the generator and the control | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
system that will sit up at the top of the turbine. A very delicate | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
operation and all been done by the crane driver in that little blue | :13:22. | :13:32. | |
:13:32. | :13:40. | ||
cabin. If you look down below, you can see this great turntable. The | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
whole crane can pivot in any direction, right in the middle of | :13:43. | :13:51. | |
the ship. It gives it extraordinary flexibility. A little bit higher, | :13:51. | :14:01. | |
:14:01. | :14:06. | ||
inch by inch. Look where it has to get to - past the crane and up to | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
be very top of the tower. One of the specialists is waiting to greet | :14:09. | :14:19. | |
:14:19. | :14:22. | ||
it. An extraordinary operation, but it is not over yet. It is high | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
summer and at about 9 o'clock, dusk has fallen. The construction site | :14:28. | :14:35. | |
is bathed in floodlight. The final stage of the work is just getting | :14:35. | :14:44. | |
under way. It is late evening, but the work just keeps going as they | :14:44. | :14:54. | |
:14:54. | :14:54. | ||
enter a critical stage - lifting the giant set of blades of the deck. | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
They are now angling this huge rota so it is in the right position to | :14:58. | :15:06. | |
be hoisted right up and fitted to the very top of the tower. In the | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
dark, up at the summit, a face appears. A giant shadow is | :15:09. | :15:18. | |
approaching. The voices over the radio remain calm. The wind picks | :15:18. | :15:28. | |
:15:28. | :15:30. | ||
up slightly. This is now the greatest danger. Down on deck, a | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
team clutches the tip of a blade. It has to be kept from hitting | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
anything. It is a moment of maximum tension. Attach it to your right. | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
Really slow. Gradually, the harbour get closer to its destination and | :15:43. | :15:53. | |
:15:53. | :15:58. | ||
then it is fitted. Just before midnight the job is done. Just | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
after dawn, the seajack has been lowered and it is time for us to | :16:01. | :16:08. | |
leave. The barge is heading back to Belfast for another load of | :16:09. | :16:18. | |
:16:19. | :16:20. | ||
components. There is one more leg of our journey to come. The wind | :16:20. | :16:30. | |
:16:30. | :16:33. | ||
farm is almost complete. Work boats cluster around the towers. The | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
turbines are being connected to be grid. Each one should generate five | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
megawatts of electricity, a lot more than most, but still, you | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
would need 200 of them to match the output of a conventional power | :16:44. | :16:54. | |
:16:54. | :16:55. | ||
station. Getting onto one is not easy. It involves the same | :16:56. | :17:04. | |
elaborate procedure we went through to board the seajack. 1, 2, 3,4, | :17:04. | :17:14. | |
:17:14. | :17:27. | ||
5.... This is the moment our ascent begins and we have to try to get | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
right up to the top there, up to those blades. Apparently, we can | :17:31. | :17:38. | |
get up onto the roof and have a look. This is the way we will do it | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
- through this huge door at the base of the tower. It is a bit like | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
entering a submarine or a ship. Here goes. With one of the longest | :17:45. | :17:55. | |
:17:55. | :18:05. | ||
ladders in history, I'm sure. There is a lift, I could have used it, | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
but we thought for the authentic wind turbine experience, and also | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
to show you how ridiculously big these things are, it would be | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
better if I went through the ordeal of the long haul to the top. Inside, | :18:15. | :18:23. | |
it's a very long journey to the top. I am hooked on for safety, but the | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
technicians who work in here have to be specially trained and they | :18:26. | :18:34. | |
need a head for heights. Up top, we have reached the key mechanisms, | :18:34. | :18:43. | |
just behind the blades. There is one more stage to go. So, this is | :18:43. | :18:53. | |
:18:53. | :19:03. | ||
the final stage of the journey to the top. First impression, it is an | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
incredible view. The sun has come out, the sea is glistening. Look at | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
the size of that one blade, stretching right up against the | :19:09. | :19:16. | |
blue sky. Now, all of these are immobile at the moment because they | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
are not yet commissioned, but they soon will be benefiting from the | :19:19. | :19:29. | |
:19:29. | :19:38. | ||
beautiful breeze, out here at sea. This wind farm should generate the | :19:38. | :19:41. | |
power needed for 100,000 homes, but only when the wind spins all of its | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
30 turbines. Britain is committed to getting a quarter of its | :19:45. | :19:53. | |
electricity from onshore turbine by 2020. Germany, Denmark and Holland | :19:53. | :20:02. | |
also have serious plans for wind farms at sea. But will this catch | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
on globally? Maybe not. In some parts of Asia we do find good | :20:09. | :20:17. | |
conditions and some countries are experimenting in offshore wind. We | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
also have to think about the areas where there are hurricanes and lots | :20:21. | :20:31. | |
:20:31. | :20:45. | ||
of storms. There are no indications of a global spread. One aim is to | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
get electricity without producing greenhouse gas. Another is to | :20:51. | :21:01. | |
:21:01. | :21:03. | ||
become less dependent on fuel from abroad. It is great that it is home | :21:03. | :21:13. | |
:21:13. | :21:15. | ||
grown electricity. But it must make sense to use this instead of buying | :21:15. | :21:25. | |
:21:25. | :21:30. |