The drone storytellers known for their spectacular displays could bring the wind farm plans to life ahead of any decisions, suggests a local environmental publication.
Stunning drone displays from the team at Celestial prompted gasps of wonder when they reached the semi final of the TV programme Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) and earned them unanimous golden buzzer support from the judges.
And that same technology could be deployed to help people visualise wind turbines, according to The Northern Eco.
The environmental publication has put forward the idea as a way to illustrate the scale of proposed turbines at the site on the North Yorkshire/County Durham border. The Norwegian company Fred. Olsen Renewables plans to build 23 turbines with each of them standing over 200 metres tall.
The Northern Eco’s editor, Sarah Hartley said that, while talking to people locally, it had become obvious it was just about impossible to imagine the size of the proposed turbines which are far larger than those usually seen.
“It seems almost impossible to imagine what the plan will really look like and where you’ll be able to see the turbines locally. People just haven’t seen turbines of this height before and, while scale models and plans can help, seeing the structure in the landscape could really bring the proposal to life.
“The proposed wind farm forms part of the National Infrastructure plan for the green energy shift. It is one of the defining stories of our time and having meaningful consultation with the local community is surely an essential part of the process.”
The idea was put to Cris Thacker, Communications Manager at Fred. Olsen Renewables. He said:
“We’d like to thank the Northern Eco for bringing forward this idea. While it’s not something we’ve tried before, innovation has been part of our DNA since we began constructing onshore wind farms in 1996, and we encourage ideas like this.
“We will produce and share visualisations once we have developed a final layout, and these will form an important part of the consultation process – ensuring our proposals are accurately represented. As our studies progress and we develop a clearer picture of the final design, we’ll revisit this idea alongside our usual industry best practice approach to assessing landscape and visual impact.”
Celestial’s Head of Global Sales and Marketing, Ottilie Culloty explained more about the drone company’s use of this technology for storytelling.
“It gets people to engage with a medium that is very different to looking down at your phone. It’s a shared experience, because it is outdoors, everyone is experiencing the same thing IRL (In Real Life) in the same moment.
“It’s like the stars coming to life, really. It is a nice link with how we used to use the stars for storytelling 1000s of years ago, and is going back to that tradition.”
The team have certainly got the experience to take on a challenge like Hope Moor. They’ve put on displays at Glastonbury, for Greenpeace, at Hogmany and for the BBC where Celestial brought the story of the Titanic to life as part of the broadcaster’s Made of Here regional campaign.
Can drones also help us tell an important chapter in the story of our region?
To have drones flying at the 200m height would require special permission from the CAA for flights over 100m in height and to illuminate just one turbine image would take up to 1,000 drones in the air – that’s similar to the BGT display. A team of ten people, including two pilots, would be involved.
“I think it’s exciting. We don’t want to take one side of the debate or the other, but we do want to bring a vision for life, that’s what we’re all about. It’s bringing an idea to life, so that opinions can be formed on either side about it. It allows people to actually visualise something in real life,” said Ottilie.
On the logistics, the drones can fly in rain, the remoteness of the location is a challenge but not a problem and in fact there’s just one obstacle that needs to be avoided. Ironically, it’s wind!
* This report first appeared in environmental publication, The Northern Eco at www.thenortherneco.com.
Sarah Hartley
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
