Wither Windy Miller? (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Wither Windy Miller?

2:06pm Thursday 13th March 2008

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/images/childrens60s_windy_gal.jpg

So there I was, driving through Denholme yesterday, the car being buffetted all over the road and a rather red-faced cyclist struggling up the hill, doubtless being blown backwards and fearing he would end up under the wheels of a big wagon at any minute.

And I stopped at the traffic lights at Thornton Road and my eyes grazed left to the wind farm on Ovenden Moor. Now, a lot of people are against these big turbines and consider them to be a blot on the landscape, but I must confess that I find them quite graceful and endearing.

However... there were only two of the windmills actually going round. On what was arguably the windiest day of the century, I counted at least ten turbines lying idle.

Surely, yesterday alone, there could have been enough electricity generated to power several small villages until doomsday.

I've just been told, as I write this, that wind turbines can't be used when it's too windy, or they might break.

But that, surely, has to be nonsense... hasn't it?