Is the Kippax power array an eyesore?

Drove past yesterday.

It’s big. The tanks will probably be hidden by a fence.

The towers and solar panels won’t be.

If I had a place facing them on Starke Street I wouldn’t be happy.

I notice that Starke StreetsTommy Tortoise ‘garden’ has gone [for new arrivals – think tan bark decorated with broken furniture and starring a 5 foot stump with a broken piano mounted on it] but seems to have been replaced by several front yards of the very much ‘run free’ variety in the same area.

Look out -solar is now on the move !

http://global.kyocera.com/news/2009/0506_jgoa.html

Solidarity – get with the program!, the idea is to showcase Solar Power the sun is an infinite source of clean energy, versus the alternative COAL, NUCLEAR etc all finite, really dirty and dangerous. We only need a few smart kids out there to catch onto sites like these and come up with further technologies improvements. Leave it up the designer and the architects to work on the aesthetics.

thatsnotme said :

I think plastic tanks would look out of place. They’ve used a similar corrigated iron finish on the building itself, so these tanks will fit in with the building design. No matter what they’re made of, you can’t really hide that number of tanks short of burying them…so they might as well match the rest of the building.

True I guess. I will have a more objective look when it is all finished and the landscaping done / fencing removed. I assume in ground tanks just aren’t worth the potential future cost if one had to be replaced.

georgesgenitals said :

It sounds like a possum being fed into a blender.

Mmmm, so only loud for a minute or so?

Solidarity said :

Jim Jones said :

sdcno1 said :

‘Nice modern plastice ones’

Nice choice of contradictions there.

How is that a contradiction?

Plastic tanks are much worse for the environment (to produce) than metal ones.

Not really, those tanks would have a plastic liner, fully plastic tanks last much longer as well.

p1 said :

That said, I like the whole development. Will be interested in the noise (if any) the turbine makes in a good breeze.

It sounds like a possum being fed into a blender.

p1 said :

I know that the tanks are new, but that style has been around since the 1840s. A nice new (style) moulded plastic tank, in a nice dull colour, might be a little boring, but would blend in better. Sure, a screen of plants might hide these tanks a little, but that would also work with plastic ones.

I think plastic tanks would look out of place. They’ve used a similar corrigated iron finish on the building itself, so these tanks will fit in with the building design. No matter what they’re made of, you can’t really hide that number of tanks short of burying them…so they might as well match the rest of the building.

Jim Jones said :

sdcno1 said :

‘Nice modern plastice ones’

Nice choice of contradictions there.

How is that a contradiction?

I know that the tanks are new, but that style has been around since the 1840s. A nice new (style) moulded plastic tank, in a nice dull colour, might be a little boring, but would blend in better. Sure, a screen of plants might hide these tanks a little, but that would also work with plastic ones.

That said, I like the whole development. Will be interested in the noise (if any) the turbine makes in a good breeze.

It looks a lot better than Kippax in general.

Jim Jones said :

sdcno1 said :

‘Nice modern plastice ones’

Nice choice of contradictions there.

How is that a contradiction?

Plastic tanks are much worse for the environment (to produce) than metal ones.

thatsnotme said :

I don’t think it looks to bad really. The solar panels look a bit weird at the moment when they’re all at different angles while being installed, but once they’re all operating and on the same angle they’ll look less messy. The whole site is a mess at the moment as well (being a construction site and all) so it’s hard to judge how it’ll look finished and landscaped. I think the view will be nicer with this in place, than it was when the view was to the ugly backside of the shops behind there…

Agreed. If anything, it looks like it’s the tanks that will detract from the view, but a bit of judicious green leafy thing planting will solve that problem. Let’s see how it looks when its’ all done.

sdcno1 said :

‘Nice modern plastice ones’

Nice choice of contradictions there.

How is that a contradiction?

‘Nice modern plastice ones’

Nice choice of contradictions there.

I don’t think it looks to bad really. The solar panels look a bit weird at the moment when they’re all at different angles while being installed, but once they’re all operating and on the same angle they’ll look less messy. The whole site is a mess at the moment as well (being a construction site and all) so it’s hard to judge how it’ll look finished and landscaped. I think the view will be nicer with this in place, than it was when the view was to the ugly backside of the shops behind there…

Gungahlin Al said :

What’s the address?

Corner of Starke and Luke Streets.

Gungahlin Al said :

I mean juste look at East O’Malley for Pete’s sake…

Must I?

It’s part of the stanhope art for canberrans project.

What’s the address? It all comes down to context. If you’re looking out your bedroom window at them maybe not. But in a commercial environ, what’s the problem? Don’t like turbines but you’re OK with TV antennas and 2 metre satellite dishes?

Me – I hate looking at bloody black concrete tiled roofs everywhere. Can’t help thinking of the absurdly unnecessary energy consumption caused by such a simple thing as colour choice. But I’m not waging a war to ban them, because you’re fighting a losing battle trying to govern taste. I mean juste look at East O’Malley for Pete’s sake…

I don’t think they’re any more of an eyesore than any other development that might have been placed in the same area. Just try to think of them as artwork, similar to that found on the GDE. Except that these ‘artworks’ actually serve a purpose (and probably didn’t cost nearly as much).

eyesore? hardly, have you seen the rest of kippax

Ugly as hell, to be honest i’d rather an out-of-the-way coal plant, at least it isn’t masquerading as “green”

I almost fell off my seat when I first saw it. It makes a big, bold statement.. something like:”The grass is much greener on this side of fence, why don’t you get out of your car and walk you fossil fuel consuming CO2 emitting planet-destroyer” I don’t think the photo does justice to the installation, seeing the array of shiny panels each at a jaunty angle juxtaposed by the curvy turbine blades is quite striking.

Meh. Better than a coal-fired power station or a nuke.

I’m a little surprised that they went with a big row of corrugated iron tanks. Can’t help but think nice modern plastic ones would have been much less obvious.

I think that wildturkeycanoe was not exaggerating.
Thanks to Colin for the photo.
Are these solar panels the type that constantly alter angle to best trap the solar energy ?
I was expecting a horizontal axis wind turbine that would be less obtrusive – but hey anything Green must be so marvellous.