The only real problem with wind turbines isn’t their performance record.
Northern New Brunswick’s cold, icy weather is causing wind turbines to freeze and stop producing power at the Caribou Wind Park near Bathurst.
The problem is that people still can’t tell the difference between stuff built to generate power….
Official data recording the performance of half the UK’s onshore turbines revealed the problems caused by a lack of wind during the cold snap. On the coldest day – January 7 – they produced just 5 per cent of their maximum output. On January 9 they produced just 9 per cent, and on two other days the figure was only 10 per cent.
… and stuff built to generate tax subsidies.
“If people see a water tower, they expect it to stand still,” said Wally Wysopal, the city manager of North St. Paul. “If there’s a turbine, they want it to turn.”
h/t Manotick and J.A.
“Skeletons of Wind Energy” at Moonbattery.
“California’s wind farms — then comprising about 80% of the world’s wind generation capacity — ceased to generate much more quickly than Kamaoa. In the best wind spots on earth, over 14,000 turbines were simply abandoned. Spinning, post-industrial junk which generates nothing but bird kills.”
More at the Moonbattery, with a link to the original article and a great comment thread.
This morning I noticed a proposal to build a huge wind farm off shore near beautiful areas on the Lake Erie shore. There must be a massive effort to get this stuff in the pipeline before governments start slowly edging away from this lunacy. I wondered how many of these will be built to permanently blight the landscape when they’re abandoned.
A week or two ago there was a short blurb on the radio about one of the First Nations bands in Sask proposing to blow several hundred million on a wind farm.
Of course they are looking for a partner in private industry to take this forward. Wanna bet they’ll be milking the Feds for all they can get?
I never heard anything more about this. Does it have legs?
“the First Nations bands in Sask proposing to blow several hundred million on a wind farm.”
I can’t see this happening. Sask. Indian bands have been involved in many successful enterprises such as hotels, golf courses, gas stations and, the biggest cash cow, casinos. Why would they want to get involved in a worthless venture like a wind farm?
On the other hand however, the Feds would fall over each other to throw money at such a project. Just think … a “green” project owned and operated by a native band. The points to be put up on the politically correct scoreboard are infinite.
Geeze, they really are inventive when it comes to naming these eyesores, “wind farms” and “wind parks”. How long before people really start to notice how they pollute the landscape for very little return, as powerful as a fart in a windstorm in this climate.
I particularly like the comment “No one knows for sure why these turbines do not. Officials believe there may be several reasons, but weather is the focus of much speculation.” But wasn’t weather (or more specific climate change) supposed to be solved by these wind turbines????
But I forget the rule is ‘weather is not climate change unless the climate change people say it is!’ I have to learn those rules!
Deicing boots! Simply put deicing boots on the blades and presto! Ice shrapnel, a eco-green destructive weapon. Sarcastic comment of course, anyone who has flown in a prop plane knows what fun flying ice is.
Seriously, did anyone else notice that the CBC managed to link a “mysterious” fire in another generator. And what’s with a company names Suez in Canada? A little searching tells me it is a Texas based subsidiary of Suez Energy International out of France. btw, all links to Suez International are dead ends.
Also, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that a turbine that doesn’t turn can’t generate anything but an eyesore.
Take a look at how all the tax subsidies worked out … Remember Solar One?
http://webecoist.com/2009/05/04/10-abandoned-renewable-energy-plants/
Notice how never is it spoken, how much the electricity is going to cost you?
Those wind turbine propellers belong on the heads of the people who thing they are the answer to electrical power generation.
Give us some really slick nuclear power generation stations and then continue working on nuclear fusion reactors.
It only gets better and better. Liberal heads are exploding around the globe.
The best comment I have heard about turbines is from a distraught woman from Wolfe Island Ont. When our grandchildren dismantle these ugly monsters, all the value they will ever have produced will be in their scap value.
This will be after decades of polluted landscapes and destroyed health of nearby residents.
Best comment so far, “I think these windmills are a great idea, but I think winter will happen again next year too”
One of OBOZOs announced agendas is achieving what is in practice likely impossible….a “smart grid”.
Managing a electric grid is a complex tricky matter when the main variable is the load. Even then the major blackouts have revealed this is more art than science.
Unreliable, variable renewable power inputs such as wind make the possibility of a workable, reliable grid hopelessly remote.
The hypothethis that many small renewable inputs can be utilized when such matters as voltage and cycle alignment are considered. An out of phase/sync input is a kingsized short circuit…..and that is not rocket science.
This why emergency generators MUST involve switching that TOTALLY isolates the emergency power from the grid. Connecting to the line generally results in exploding transformers.
BTW Hydro One (Ontario) linesmen do not trust approved “pole-top” switches….they require emergency generators to be shut-down when repairing storm damage.
All AC transmission is 3 phase—not the single phase of household current.
But then you must remember those who promote this haven’t run out of other people’s money yet.
No number of stories like the above, can dent the urban fantasy, that Ont. electricity can be produced without using any fuel. The perception remains that wind power will somwhow replace nuclear, hydro, or fuel fired electricity, all for no extra cost. The reality, it seems, can only be realized after McGuinty’s electrical bills come due, as they must, long after he has retired. He has made no rational plans for increased energy requirements, except to dream of giant mirrors and windmills.
Just so you all know Suez the company building the Brunswick site, that belongs to GdF that is Gaz De France, they build turbines where there is money to be made and like all European utility companies with oil and gas licenses and energy interests they worked out a long time ago that its easier to make money from milking governments (tax payers) than make it by any other method.
how many more of these bat blenders will the taxpayer have to pay for?
Same old rhetoric from SDA. It must become tiresome to lament the same old song day after day, all the while being ignored by most governments and power corporations who continue to invest in wind generation power; Sask. Power included, who may also partner with First Nations communities on a wind generation project(s). Thank god wisdom prevails and the pap spouted on SDA amounts to just that: pap.
Ironic Suez being french, France dont do wind, they do 80% atomic. I moved from Cornwall, UK to come here, a beutifull place, wind farms everywhere, one near an air base that causes a blind spot on radar and a flight hazard,most of the time they do not turn enough, in cornwall it is windy, they turn them into the wind when it gets too strong, they are useless for connecting to a grid, pointless, might be good for pumping water uphill though!
T: Most governments and power corporations continue to invest in wind power because they are backstopped by taxpayer subsidies, or direct government revenues. In Europe, corporations like BP and Shell have already curtailed investment in wind. The only return on investment is with the government subsidy, and Spain and Germany are beginning to see the folly of wind as an alternative power source. The problem with politicians like McGuinty is that they are zealots, no amount of economic evidence will convince them to abandon wind power, it is more of a religion. Only hindsight, and vastly increased energy bills will convince them they were wrong.
If global warming is the problem they say it is, it might make more sense to turn these fans around, supply power TO them, and use them to cool off the planet.
Chris
That’s not ironic its one of the French ways of doing business you should know that being English, its called screw you and laugh all the way to the bank.
Whenever I’m struggling with the fact that the Liberals are neck and neck with the Conservatives in the polls and wonder what in the Hell is wrong with people, I just have to read one of T’s less than profound pronouncements and realize that “they walk among us”.