14,000 Idle Wind Turbines a Testament to Failed Energy Policies

The New American ^ | Apr. 11, 2013 | Bob Adelmann

[EXCH54FE]

When Element Power announced on April 10 the closing of a deal to build wind turbines for Blackrock in Ireland, nothing was said about the more than 14,000 other wind turbines lying idle around the world.

Nothing was said about Element’s recent termination of another deal to build 40 wind turbines over 4,000 acres on top of Black Lava Butte and Flat Top Mesa in California, citing in its “request to relinquish” that there were “insufficient wind resources” to make that project viable.

Those 14,000 wind turbines lying idle in California’s Altamont Pass, Tehachapin, and San Gorgonio areas and elsewhere around the world are testimony to the continuing and accelerating failure of hope over experience, funded with taxpayer monies. And these areas were selected as being “in the best wind spots on earth,” which are now, according to Natural News writer Jonathan Benson, just “spinning, post-industrial junk which generates nothing but bird kills.”

Wind farms do not generate electricity on any commercially competitive level.

It’s a Ponzi scheme, concluded Delingpole, promoted as a way to siphon funds from those taxpayers into the pockets of investment managers like BlackRock and manufacturers like Element Power, despite evidence that such “investments” have no chance whatever of returning a profit with them. Delingpole explained:

The evidence for man-made global warming is vanishingly small, to the point of non-existence. The only people predicting disastrous man-made climate-change catastrophe are computer modelers and economists who are part of this green Ponzi scheme....

[Wind power] is … a catastrophic failure of judgment. [It is] stupendously inefficient and ludicrously expensive.... So unreliable are wind turbines — thanks to the wind’s constant vagaries — that they are one of the most inefficient means of producing electricity ever devised.

[editor-surveyor]

Smoking is hazardous to wind turbines’ health!

[twistedwrench]

“After CEO Bob Dudley announced that BP was abandoning the solar market last month, the oil giant will be selling its $3.1 billion worth of wind assets in the United States, as reported by Bloomberg.”

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/bp-nyse-bp-sells-wind-assets/3250

[DJ MacWoW]

I’m shocked that liberals allow them to smoke! ;-)

[stuartcr]

They seem to be working well in northern Japan.

[cripplecreek]

Meanwhile they’re trying to tear out the Hetch hetchy dam in CA.

All I know is that if wind were really about green energy they wouldn’t be tearing out dams.

[Uncle Chip]

Jibberish!

Hahhh --

Any plastic exposed to the sun will opacify in time, even the "backing film on the bottom side of the lower glass sheet that supports the crystals".

[Ben Ficklin]

You may, or may not have, heard of the CREZ Project in Texas. The Lege authorized that in 2005, the PUC awarded contracts in 2009, so 6+ billion in new windlines will be completed at the end of this year.

So all those potential generators, who up until then, have had no way to get their windpower to market will begin to move forward. Of course they will be pushing for Congress to extend the subsidies into 2014.

It wouldn't hurt if Congress or Obama would make the decision to export nat gas. That would probaly raise the domestic price for nat gas and if & when that price gets up to $5.50-$7.50, those wind mills get a lot more profitable.

[editor-surveyor]

You simply don’t know what you’re talking about.

Eight nof my panels are 15 years old, and their plastic is as soft and flexible as the day I bought them. The sun never gets to the bottom of something that is attached to a roof.

[Amendment10]

It sounds like wind farms were never a science, just an unquestioned excuse, like global warming, to petition “the government” for funds, regardless that the states have never delegated to Congress, via the Constitution, the specific power to tax and spend for such purposes.

Also, note that one wind farm mechanic has commented that wind farms require appreciable maintenance to keep operational even if there is wind.

[ExCTCitizen]

Another waste of TAXPAYERS’ money!!!

[George from New England]

“solar panels when the plexiglass “

I know you are being funny but the panels are so heavy that its real glass.

[Ben Ficklin]

It doesn't have anything to do with Jimmy Carter.

It all revolves around nat gas.

The nat gas shortages in 2001 and 2002(remember Enron) set off the first wave of windmill building. Then the Katrina related nat gas shortages set off the second wave.

Now we have excess nat gas, but when we start exporting nat gas the price goes up so wind, coal, & nukes become more profitable

[VRWCarea51]

Yeah but we stopped their BS with their attempted Constitutional Amendment for live time funds.

Where I work, we put up both a Solar Array and Wind Turbine.
The makers of the Turbine are now in Chapter whatever, bought out by G.E. Supposedly. Can’t get support, parts or service. It was installed in October. Enegery Monitoring software/hardware does not work so who knows if it is generating or just chasing birds.

The 6 segment solar array is generating electricity. One a clear sky day it generates about 25 cents worth of electricity (3-5 kwh). Well worth the 10-15k investment. /s
This specific system requires 3 phase power to the array to power the drive that tracks the sun and monitoring hardware.

Of course this was purchased with public tax dollars. No sensable person on a budget they have to watch would even consider such a waste.

[Uncle Chip]

So you think that the plastic in those solar panels never grow old enough that the panels have to be replaced??? If that is so, given their popularity, then why do communities have special rules regarding the disposal of these panels.

[The_Media_never_lie]

You have to wonder what Obama’s motivation is for investing in alternative energy companies that go belly-up soon afterward. How much of it is finding its way back into his own pocket? Or the pockets of other Democrats?

I do not wonder at all. It is just as you said. Were it economical, private investors would be doing it. It is called crony capitalism, and Obama's buddies are doing quite well by it. Taxpayers are paying for losing investments.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah but we stopped their BS with their attempted Constitutional Amendment for live time funds.

That was a disaster that even the supporters admitted was virtually impossible. They just wanted it in the state constitution to grab money and prevent other working sorces of energy for being built.

Proposal 3 would require that the state add as many as 13 times more wind turbines in Michigan than currently operate. Proposal 3 would mandate that 25 percent of Michigan’s energy come from renewable sources. Wind is expected to be the primary supplier of renewable energy if the proposal passes.

Advocates and experts predict 2,300 to 3,790 nearly 500-feet high wind turbines would have to be added to meet the 25-percent mandate. Michigan currently has 292 wind turbines in operation.



Most of Michigan is 'Poor' or 'Marginal' For Wing Energy

One thing about that map. Almost all of those red and purple areas are off limits now and erecting windmills off shore makes them twice as expensive to erect and maintain.

[Ben Ficklin]

You need to make the distinction in PV solar and thermal solar aka concentrating solar by which parabolic glass mirrors are used concentrate the sun's rays to generate steam to spin the turbine.

Thermal solar is a lot cheaper than PV solar so most of your utility grade solar farms are of the thermal type.

This is not to say that as the PV panels get cheaper and other long term financing options are available there won't be more rooftop generating(residential and commercial)

[Uncle Chip]

How long do solar panels last?

Solar photovoltaics slowly lose their generating capacity. Although some solar panels are still working satisfactorily 40 years after installation, the conventional view is that most will dip below 80% of their rated capacity within about 20 years. This will vary slightly between manufacturers and between different types of silicon.

http://www.scitizen.com/future-energies/how-long-do-solar-panels-last-_a-14-2897.html

[editor-surveyor]

The plastics will outlast the crystals.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “How long do solar panels last?” <<

That depends on what type of crystals they have, and how effectively they are darkened.

Most panels are unconditionally guaranteed for 25 years these days.

Most crystals actually can be re-darkened by removing them from the back of the glass face withe solvents (retched vapors) then sticking them back on, which should last for about another 20 years.

PV remains full of unknowns as to ultimately how long they will last. Emerging technologies are bringing improvments in efficiency levels too, so some panels may get replaced for that reason.