Solar and Wind Farms

[goldstar]

Generally speaking, I usually don't post in this section of the forum because I do not do any solar installations (by choice). However, I recently returned from a cruise to port cities in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Norway. I was so impressed with the solar and wind farms that I saw and I would like to share some photos.

This first one was of a solar and wind farm while on a 2 hour train ride to Berlin. I saw a mega-watt solar farm that had 50 rows of solar panels with at least 100 panels in each row. Then looking behind in the 2nd photo I saw a wind farm with at least 50 wind turbines (before I lost count) and I thought "Wow, what an enormous feat of engineering. After traveling about 2-3 miles down the track we came upon another similar installation that was at least the same if not bigger than the first. All in all we passed at least 6 of these installations before we finally got to Berlin.

I know Germany has both fuel and power problems due to obvious current events. I asked our guide about these problems and he mentioned that gas prices are about $10.00/gallon (Euros are about the same value). His home is heated by oil and he is currently paying almost $4000 to fill his tank.





After leaving the port of Hamburg on the way to Oslo, Sweden (and BTW, the inhabitants of Hamburg, Germany are considered Hamburgers - no pun intended, but that's not where the sandwich was invented). We passed several wind farms out in the North Sea, miles away from any land areas (see photo # 3). I couldn't imagine how they got the harvested power back to land.



Thereafter, almost every port we pulled into had massive wind farms like this one in Copenhagen, Denmark


Due to high gas prices, bicycles are the most common form of travel for the inhabitants. This is a photo of bicycle racks outside one of the hotels.



Hope you enjoyed the photos

 

[Besoeker3]

Thank you for that. UK also has quite a few. Scotland particular and there is the Thames Estuary off the coast of London. The bikes are are known for Netherlands - their very flat topography attests to that!

 

[goldstar]

The bikes are are known for Netherlands - their very flat topography attests to that!

I just want to add that unlike the USA, pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way in bike lanes. Just like the US, you have to look both ways before you cross otherwise bikers will mow you down. They approach at high rates of speed and very seldom slow down.

 

[Besoeker3]

I just want to add that unlike the USA, pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way in bike lanes. Just like the US, you have to look both ways before you cross otherwise bikers will mow you down. They approach at high rates of speed and very seldom slow down.

And cyclists are not allowed on the paths - my sister complains a lot about that in London. We live in Yorkshire and we have a lane called the Roman Ridge (built 2000 years ago) and are bicycles and pedestrians and no cars. I walk there with my dog. Often the bikes fly down at a helluva rate with no warning.