Hinkley Point C Vs Whitelee Windfarm: Steel [All Metals] & Concrete

It would take >20 windfarms the size of Whitelee to generate the same amount of intermittent electricity every year as the 24/7 electricity generated by Hinkley [See links below]. But since windfarms only have an average lifespan of 22.5 years, compared with Hinkley’s 60 year design life, that’s equivalent to 54 Whitelee-sized windfarms.

HinkleyPoint C - 165 acres [0.67 km²] 
WhiteleeWindfarm - 53 km²

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Steel/All Metals HPC

All site: 230,000 t Rebar + 2(70,903 t [All Metals]/1600 MW] = 371,806 t

Installed Capacity: 3260 MW. Design Life: 60 years. Capacity Factor: 90%.

Electricity generated: 1542.1 TWh

Steel used per unit of electricity generated: 0.241 kg/MWh

Per Peterson – P.13: 1600 MW EPR, All Metals [tonnes]
EDF – Capacity Factor 90%. 60 year Design Life. 230,000 tonnes of rebar contract

Steel/All Metals, Whitelee

Per Turbine: 40 t Rebar + 320 t [Turbine} + 80 t [Nacelle] = 440 t
Total for 215 Turbines: 94,600 t

Installed Capacity: 539 MW. Lifespan: 22.5 years. Capacity Factor: 27%

Electricity generated: 28.7 TWh

Steel used per unit of electricity generated: 3.296 kg/MWh

Whitelee Windfarm – 215 Turbines, 539 MW, 27% Capacity Factor

East Renfrewshire: Steel/All Metals

Per unit of electricity generated:

Wind Power uses 13.7X more Steel 
[All Metals] than Nuclear Power.

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Concrete, HPC

All site: 3,000,000 t

Concrete used per unit of electricity generated: 1.945 kg/MWh

EDF – 3 million tonnes of concrete:

Concrete, Whitelee

All site: Whitelee 120,000 t + Whitelee Extension 100,800 t = 220,800 t

Concrete used per unit of electricity generated: 7.693 kg/MWh

East Renfrewshire – Construction Facts: Concrete

Density of Concrete

Per unit of electricity generated:

Wind Power uses 4.0X more Concrete

than Nuclear Power.

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54 such windfarms would use 5,085,900 tonnes of steel/all metals.
That's an extra 4,714,000 tonnes of steel [all metals]. 

About Steel – Raw Materials:

20 GJ of energy is 5.556 MWh of energy used for every tonne of steel produced. For the extra 4,714,000 tonnes of steel needed, an extra 26 TWh of energy is required [20 years of Whitelee Windfarm 22.5 years lifespan]. Then there’s the mining of an extra 7,542,400 tonnes of iron ore and 3,629,800 tonnes of coal [770 kg coal/600 kg coke]; this is shipped by 80 – 140,000 tonne bulk carriers.

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54 such windfarms would use 11,923.200 tonnes of concrete. 
That’s an extra 8,923,200 tonnes of concrete.

Energy and Emission Reduction Opportunities for the Cement Industry

The extra 8,923,200 tonnes of concrete uses 1.583 TWh of energy [1¼ years of Whitelee’s generation]. Coal use is 300,000 tonnes and CO₂ emissions 1.018 million tonnes [1.77 years of Whitelee’s generation].

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“…The CCC has suggested that if the current block was lifted, 35GW of onshore wind could be deployed by 2035 to help to meet the UK’s carbon reduction targets…”
35 GW Onshore wind by 2035

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35 GW of Onshore Wind – That’s 65 Whitelee-sized Windfarms. 
How much avoidable Waste of Steel? 
How much avoidable Waste of Concrete?

Time for another Blog Post!