Wind Power - Vastly Superior to Nuclear Power In Resource Use: Metal X19.2 Concrete X9.6

This goes a long way to explaining why the cost of Wind Power Farms, per MWh delivered, is so much greater than a Nuclear Power Plant !

Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Plant is rated at 3.2 GW, has a 90% Capacity Factor and a Design Life of 60 years.

It will deliver 1,513.7 TWh of 24/7 electricity.

EDF - Hinkley Point C

EPR - Concrete and Total Metal. Page 13.

High Density Concrete - Table 5

UK Wind Turbine Operate at a Capacity Factor of 30.4%

renewableUK [the voice of wind and marine energy]

"...The design life of a good quality modern wind turbine is 20 years. Depending on how windy and turbulent the site is, the turbine could last for 25 years or even longer, though as with anything mechanical, the maintenance costs will increase as it gets older...."

Renewables First

At a Capacity Factor of 30.4% and an 'Operational Phase' of 25 years, to deliver 1,513.7 TWh of intermittent electricity, the UK would need a Wind Turbine Total Operational Capacity of 22,736.422 MW.

Major Material Inputs per MW for Wind Turbines - Page 145.

Metals Use, Hinkley Point C: 141,806 tonne.

Metals Use UK Wind Power: 2,723,823 tonne [X19.2].

Concrete Use, Hinkley Point C: 1,022,490 tonne.

Concrete Use UK Wind Power: 9,844,871 tonne [X9.6].

A lot of people have fought oppression for the right to have wind turbines, but John Cleese gets right to the heart of the matter at 1:34 on this:

Fight for your rights ! 

Rampion Ramps Up The Cost Of Offshore Wind.

Everything you need to know about Rampion here:

Rampion Facts & Figures.

Rampion Offshore Wind Farm is rated at 400.2 MW and will cost £1.596 billion [not including decommissioning].

Rampion Offshore Wind Farm

Rampion will deliver Intermittent Electricity, capable of Intermittently Powering 283,444 homes every year, for its 'Expected Life' of 25 years.

--------------------//--------------------

By contrast, Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Plant will deliver 24/7 Electricity, capable of On-Demand Powering of 6,406,501 homes for its 'Design Life of 60 years.

--------------------//--------------------

A bit of very simple Arithmetic
--------------------//--------------------
6,406,501 [1 Hinkley] ÷ 283,444 [1 Rampion] = 22.6
--------------------//-------------------- 
We'd need to build 22.6 Rampions once and then a 2nd time and then be 10 years into the 3rd build to deliver the same amount of intermittent electricity as Hinkley's 24/7 electricity !
--------------------//--------------------
That's a factor of 2.4 ≡ 54 Rampions

That would cost 54 x £1.596 billion = £86.18 billion

--------------------//--------------------
Hinkley will cost £18.0 billion + £7.3 billion [decommissioning, waste handling and storage]

22.6 Rampion-Sized Offshore Windfarms 
Cost 3.4X more than Hinkley
--------------------//--------------------
The area Rampion occupies is 79 sq. km.

22.6 Rampions, to deliver the same annual amount of [Intermittent] electricity as Hinkley, would occupy an area of 1,785 sq. km

 Rampion is about 6.6 km 'deep' [nearest turbine to furthest turbine from shore]. 22.6 of them x 6.6 km deep would stretch 270 km along the South Coast:
From Eastbourne to Torquay !!
--------------------//--------------------

Hinkley sits on a site 870 m x 870 m
[About the size of the letter 'H' in SOUTH DOWNS]
--------------------//--------------------

14.67% Capacity Factor For Wind Power In China In 2015 !!!!!

GWEC [Selective] Global Wind Statistics 2015.

BUT THEY LET IT SLIP IN THIS REPORT !

Page 9 - What China's Wind Turbines Actually Delivered !

ASIA: REMARKABLE YEAR FOR CHINA For the seventh year in a row, Asia was the world’s largest regional market for new wind power development, with capacity additions totalling nearly 33.9 GW. 

In terms of annual installations China maintained its leadership position. China added 30.8 GW of new capacity in 2015, once again the highest annual number for any country ever. This is almost twice the 2013 figure, when China installed 16 GW of new capacity. 

In 2015, wind power generation reached 186.3 TWh, accounting for 3.3% of total electricity generation . This follows a pattern of steady increase in wind based electricity generation despite heavy curtailment. In 2012, wind-generated electricity in China was just over a 100 TWh, accounting for 2% of the country's total electricity output. Wind provided almost 135 TWh of electricity in 2013, contributing 2.6% of the country's total electricity generation . Total wind power generation reached over 153 TWh in 2014, 2.78% of total electricity generation. 

The Chinese wind market almost doubled its capacity from 75 GW in 2012 to reach[ed] 145 GW by the end of 2015, reinforcing China’s lead in terms of cumulative installed wind power capacity.

And Here's How It Works Out:

Yeeaa !! A Global Grid to Transport Clean Energy Around The World !!

Let's Take Notice of China - 

They Know How To Do It !!!!!

41 x Beatrice Offshore Wind Farms [3,427 x 7 MW Wind Turbines] Costing £106.6 Billion = 1 x Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Plant.

Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm is rated at 588 MW, will cost £2.6 billion and occupy 131 sq km. It uses 84 of the latest 7 MW wind turbines nearly 4X the height of Nelson's Column [651 ft].

That's a costs £4.42 Billion/GW installed.

Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm

The Beatrice website states it will supply 450,000 homes. But a wind-friendly research paper states:  "...The combined average of these measures..........[gives] −1.6 ± 0.2% annual degradation..."
−1.6 ± 0.2% annual degradation 

After its '25 year lifespan', Beatrice will only be capable of supplying 300,700 homes. So on average over the 25 years, it will supply 375,350 homes p.a..

Using the BEIS figure for each home of 3,900 kWh p.a., that works out at 1.464 TWh per year. So over its lifespan it will deliver 36.6 TWh of intermittent, low-carbon electricity.
---------------------------//---------------------------

By contrast, Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Plant will supply 6,470,000 homes every year for its 60 year deign life, without any degradation in output. 

That works out at 25.229 TWh of 24/7, on demand, low-carbon electricity every year. It's design life it will deliver a total of 1513.7 TWh

---------------------------//---------------------------

17 Beatrices would have to be constructed to deliver the same units of electricity each year as Hinkley. 

That's 1,428 x 7 MW turbines, occupying 2,227 sq km 
[47 km x 47 km]. Hinkley sits on a site 0.69 sq km in size.
---------------------------//---------------------------
But that's not the end of the story. After 25 years, those 1,428 x 7 MW turbines would have to be built a 2nd time and then be 10 years in to the 3rd build before 1,513.7 TWh of [intermittent] electricity were finally delivered.  
A factor of X2.4.

---------------------------//---------------------------
2.4 x 17 = 41 Beatrices.
41 Beatrices x £2.6 billion = £106.6 billion.
2.4 x 1,428 = 3,427 x 7 MW turbines.

---------------------------//---------------------------

Hinkley will cost £18 billion + £7.3 billion [end-of-life] decommissioning, waste handling and storage, totalling £25.3 billion.

 For £106.6 billion, nuclear power would supply 4.2X more low-carbon electricity (24/7, on demand).