Ah yes ... windmill efficiency.
Posted on 04/11/2011 12:51:36 PM PDT by neverdem
The study has challenged industry assertions about the output of wind farms
Wind farms are much less efficient than claimed, producing below 10% of capacity for more than a third of the time, according to a new report.
The analysis also suggested output was low during the times of highest demand.
The report, supported by conservation charity the John Muir Trust, concluded turbines "cannot be relied upon" to produce significant levels of power generation.
However, industry representatives said they had "no confidence" in the data.
The research, carried out by Stuart Young Consulting, analysed electricity generated from UK wind farms between November 2008 to December 2010
Statements made by the wind industry and government agencies commonly assert that wind turbines will generate on average 30% of their rated capacity over a year, it said.
But the research found wind generation was below 20% of capacity more than half the time and below 10% of capacity over one third of the time.
'Different manner'
It also challenged industry claims that periods of widespread low wind were "infrequent".
The average frequency and duration of a "low wind event" was once every 6.38 days for 4.93 hours, it suggested.
The report noted: "Very low wind events are not confined to periods of high pressure in winter...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
"Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone)."
I sure wish I had kept an article that I had read a few months ago where an envirowacko openly admitted that wind farms aren’t worth a ****. The main objective of these wind mill fiascos is to remind us to save da planet. I could not believe what this envirowacko had admitted to in the article.
So, who has the operational plot output as a fraction of installed capacity vs. system % of peak demand?
Periods of low wind can be avoided here in the U.S. by constructing wind mills on the White House lawns, next to the Capitol building and outside all senate and house office buildings.
Several weeks ago I was listening to an “energy expert” and global power requirements. He says it would take 7,500 Hoover Dams - of 52 million wind farms to equal today’s needs.
Ping.
Fact is, reliance on wind capacity builds in a structural requirement to burn more fossil fuels to make up for the time that the wind capacity is unavailable. The need for quick-start capacity when the wind generation goes down means natural gas, which simply gives the Russians, as the major supplier of NG, a greater stranglehold on the European economy.
Whenever you drive through one you will notice that less than half have blades turning. The upkeep and maintenance is difficult and unpredictable.
The article that you referenced has some excellent commentary, most of which agrees with the author. I will use it to rebut the leftists on the Denver Post blogs.
It's not that easy to find people who are willing to climb up and down 150 feet of ladder in order to check out the latest rattle.
I am thinking of the Ann Coulter quote in which she states that she wishes she was a liberal so that she could be constantly surprised by the obvious.
Anyone who actually thought through this stuff would know that you simply cannot run a modern society on wind power.
A system based on the consistancy and predictability of weather being undependable and inneficient? Who could have known?
Exactly.
Can’t idle one boiler due to wind or solar. Ask any power engineer what he thinks of the wind farms (might need to get him drunk first).
Sweden is big into wind generated electricity. Unfortunately it must be supplemented by gas. My friend in middle Sweden pays approximately 52 cents per kwh. That compares to our 8-12 cents per kwh. These prices include generation, transmission, taxes, etc in both countries.
Sorry, I misspoke about gas supplement. Here is verbatim the Swedish story.
When the wind is not so strong it it compensated by waterpower. We need power on sunny summerdays without wind so we use waterpower. On cold winterdays without wind it is the same but the water is gone. So Germany start their coal and oil power plant and rise the price. The result is: billions ov money to the companies and bankrupcy to the people.
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