Since we are being shown about the possible life span of the wind generators, what about the hidden flaws of solar units? In our area, we have one & I hear they are building another. It costs extra to build something that is only auxiliary power, so where’s the savings? Notice I didn’t include what happens to one of these solar arrays in a hail storm....which we have already experienced. Only gain I can see is if the “green” units can supply extra electric power if it is needed & even then we would necessarily be paying extra for it, maybe a considerable amount, as you can’t build these units for nothing. Now we have often heard about how the “green power” can supply ALL our needs, (no conventional power plants needed) but I think that has already easily been proven to be untrue. In fact, in certain conditions it might not even be available as auxiliary power. I’m thinking in terms of winter storm conditions with high winds.
My solar panels have a 25 year warranty and have survived two golf ball sized hail storms too. Based on their decline in output which is what the capacity warranty is for they will last well past 25 years.
They lost 1% their first year and have been steady at 0.02% per year every year after. That means they will not reach 80% until well past the 25 year mark at the 25 year point they will be down 5.8% EOL for commercial solar is 80% capacity left. At 0.02% per year these panels will be good when my grear grand children are adults I. 80 years not that they actually would last that long but 5 years in they are like new and not aging fast at all. I fully expect them to out live me. Couldn’t be happier with my off grid capable system as a prepper it’s priceless.
Winter storms is exactly why I just put a permit in for a 30 meter cable stayed tower and a 10kw micro turbine. When it’s sunny in Texas the wind is calm during the day. At night in the plains of North Texas the wind blows hard and often at night we are close to Oklahoma and it’s windy all the time. During the winter when it’s stormy it’s always windy as all get out with hard winds from the north as fronts know in and through. The turbine I chose has a 4 knot cut in speed and a 60 knot cut out speed that cover most of our wind field here. I used 30 years worth of wind data from the DOE @ 30 meters to pick the blade profile less than 0.5 percent of all wind is over 60 knot on a rolling 30 year avg. Going less than 4 knots doesn’t really help with total output since wind is the cube root of velocity and you give up the higher wind speeds with a super low cut in speed. For off grid use wind and solar go together like peas and carrots when it’s not sunny it tends to be windy.