UK Large-scale Wind Power Programme from 1970 to 1990: the Carmarthen Bay experiments and the Musgrove Vertical-Axis Turbines

摘要

This article describes the development of the Musgrove Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)concept, the UK ‘Carmarthen Bay’ wind turbine test programme, and UK government’s windpower programme to 1990. One of the most significant developments in the story of Britishwind power occurred during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, with the development of theMusgrove vertical axis wind turbine and its inclusion within the UK Government’s windturbine test programme. Evolving from a supervisor’s idea for an undergraduate project atReading University, the Musgrove VAWT was once seen as an able competitor to thehorizontal axis wind systems that were also being encouraged at the time by both the UKgovernment and the Central Electricity Generating Board, the then nationalised electricityutility for England and Wales. During the 1980s and 1990s the most developed MusgroveVAWT system, along with three other commercial turbine designs was tested atCarmarthen Bay, South Wales as part of a national wind power test programme. From thesedevelopmental tests, operational data was collected and lessons learnt, which wereincorporated into subsequent wind power operations.