You'll Never See An Albatross In The Northern Hemisphere

Ron Mitchell

You'll never see an albatross in the Northern Hemisphere! It's the wind or the lack of it around the equator which prevents this most majestic of flyers from entering northern latitudes. One would have to sail the far southern oceans and seas to witness the beauty of this bird's effortless flight.

By the same token, I would imagine a wind generator would be an absent sight in the equatorial regions of the world. Like the albatross, a wind generator needs wind and lots of it, unturbulent and from a steady direction. We have these conditions on Coll but surprisingly, there is only one on the island.

"Broadhills" has never been on the Hydro mains, so wind power seemed an economic alternative when the novelty of candles and Tilley lamps had worn thin. I bought my generator from its designer and builder, a Roger White from Aberfeldy, and basically the system consists of a 5 foot wooden propeller which is directly connected to a 12 volt alternator who's D.C. outlet charges a bank of storage batteries. These in turn, supply the house with power for lights, TV and radio, etc. The secret is to have sufficient batteries to store enough power to tide you over during calm periods. I must be the only person on Coll who prays for wind after a few days of calm - and so far they've always been answered. Not so my Friday night one about winning the Pools! No, that's not true. I'd much rather be poor and a Westender than rich and happy.
Wind power is not free! Batteries can be expensive and have to be replaced over the years. Good 12 volt fluorescent lights cost £15.00 each and last about 2000 hours whith, in a living room is not very long. The machine itself requires maintainance, particularly the propeller which has a dangerous habit of breaking up in a storm, if time or circumstances have prevented you from braking it. Although the pleasure in converting a 5 foot by 4 inch plank of wood into something which, even in a moderate wind will rotate at around 400 rnph (tip speed) and dose to supersonic in a gale, is deep.

It may at first seem a daunting task, making a propellor, but once you've marked out and double checked that the leading and trailing edges are in their respective places for each blade, the carving and balancing are relatively simple. Protecting the leading edges of the prop. can be a problem. The battering it takes from wind and weather can split and shatter the wood in a matter of days. After several unsuccessful attemps at curing this problem I eventually solved it by glueing and tacking a thin sheet of copper foil along the leading edges. My present prop. has been working for nearly two years now.
Wind power in the long term? There really is something nice in harnessing energy from the wind and I would always like to have it around. But still, the mains has its attractions too. Unfortunately the Hydro are quoting around £7000 to switch us on, so Coll's one and only wind generator will be gracing the Westend skyline for some time to come!