Giant of the turbines meets its high noon
by Brian Flett
(from The Orcadian dated November 16, 2000)

A piece of technological history has been removed from the Orkney landscape with the toppling and break-up of the 3 megawatt prototype wind generator on Burgar Hill in Evie.

The 45 metre concrete tower and twin bladed rotor were knocked down with the help of a controlled explosion at precisely 12 midday on Friday, 10th November.

Around 100 spectators had come from all over the West Mainland and beyond to witness the demolition. They parked along the Evie road and halfway up the access road to Burgar Hill, but for safety reasons were prevented from getting too close to the massive structure until it had successfully fallen to the ground, to be broken up for infill material at Kirkwall Power Station. The clearance of the concrete tower and metal frustum from Burgar Hill is being undertaken by the Johnstone-based firm of waste removal specialists, the Angus Group.

Their managing director Mr Charles Kinniburgh said that he was pleased with how the demolition of the wind turbine had gone. “It went very well, and it was well-timed for operational reasons, to coincide with the crucial weather window. Men worked throughout the night on Thursday to get things ready for the final toppling at noon on Friday. We’ll be using local plant and machinery to dismantle the concrete debris, which will be dumped as infill into two underground tanks at the power station.”

Mr Kinniburgh added: “We’re hoping to be finished on Friday (tomorrow). But you should also remember that we’ve compressed the programme for demolition from the scheduled four to five weeks to less than a fortnight.”

Mr John Parkes from Dell Explosives, whose team of specialists planted the charges to topple the large concrete tower, said: “I’m quite happy with how the operation went. We used conventional explosives, and also the relatively new technique of water suppression, to reduce the outward force of the blast. It’s becoming more common in bomb disposal and situations like that. I don’t personally work out how much explosive will be needed. I leave that to the firm of Jim McColl Associates in Edinburgh. They do all the calculations, and give me a “failsafe” point which I work to.”

Mr Parkes explained that earlier in the week, his team had reduced the integrity of the concrete tower to a single hinge which was broken by the final explosion on Friday. He also said that he was “a great backer of renewable energy” but the technology of this machine was now obsolete.

Many of the spectators who watched the event remarked: “It’s a pity that it had to be knocked down”, and others commented: “It should have been kept because it was a world-beater in its day.”

Someone who got a closer view than most was Kirkwall-based civil enginee, Mr Mickey Austin who oversaw the construction of the two new large wind turbines to the south of the three megawatt machine on Burgar Hill.

He said: “I have very mixed emotions. I watched all the components being delivered to the site for the three megawatt aerogenerator over a two year period. I know them all personally. So it was strange to see the whole thing topple over in such a short time, almost in slow motion. It is the end of an era, but the new turbines are so elegant.”

Apart from being recorded for posterity on video for the operators of the ill-fated prototype wind turbine, Scottish and Southern Energy plc, the preparation work leading up to the blast itself last Friday, was filmed by the Discovery Channel for a documentary to be shown next July or August.

Producer/director with the London-based independent company, KEO Films, Ms Yasmin Dellal, said: “We’re producing a series called “The Detonators”, in which we follow demolition and explosives experts doing their job. In this case we’ve been shadowing John Parkes. Post production work on the footage we’ve recorded here in Orkney, including speaking to the pupils at Evie School, should be completed towards Christmas, with an anticipated airing of the finished programme in July or August 2001.”

Also working on the Discovery Channel assignment at Burgar Hill were director/cameraman John Hubbard, and assistant producer and sound recordist Richard Hill.