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To: rwfromkansas
Even then, it stores what was made.

A windmill stores nothing. Battery or capacity technology to do that at the scale needed and at a convenient price point doesn't exist yet.

It does take some wind, and it is truly calm enough. Maybe parts of Kansas are never calm, but in MN/IA there are calm hot sweaty summer days which are also the peak electricity demand days.

And then, wind can be too strong forcing the windmills to stop.

Living our lives by the rhythms of nature, being hot and sweaty in the summer and dark in the windy winter is going backwards.

23 posted on 10/05/2009 6:04:19 AM PDT by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: slowhandluke; palmer
Capacity factor is the Achilles' Heel of any energy system whose primary source is by nature chaotic and unpredictable. Remember when CA was having their killer heat waves a few years ago? The capacity factor for wind generators in CA during that time, just when they were need most, was about 5%. Now, any other energy source used by a utility whose CEO proposed it, that got a 5% capacity factor during time of high demand, would result in that CEO being tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

Nationwide, capacity factor for wind generation is in the range of 25-30%. Who in their right mind would invest in an income-generating asset that effectively sits idle about 3/4s of the time? It is a nightmare for grid stability as well. Having a source online that becomes variably and unpredictable depending on the whims of Mother Nature is precisely what you don't want when your job is to serve the load and keep the frequency as constant as possible.

26 posted on 10/05/2009 6:16:54 AM PDT by chimera
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To: slowhandluke

Not storing the energy is a fatal flaw, needless to say. I thought they did.

Even in KS, there can be some calm scorching hot summer days with virtually no wind.


27 posted on 10/05/2009 6:27:43 AM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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