Wind generation for Ontario in June… “In fact, there was a period of two hours where not one MW was recorded as being produced.”
Wind generation for Ontario in June… “In fact, there was a period of two hours where not one MW was recorded as being produced.”
There are places where wind makes a viable contribution.
US Pacific Northwest….Bonneville Power is primarilly hydro so wind saves the water when the the wind blows and hydro can be started and stopped swiftly—-very flexible……Literally turning a Huge tap on or off.
Where the backup is fossil fueled NG turbines are the only flexible alternative…..steam generators must bee maintained on “hot spin” and nuclear is base load only.
This wind stuff is why it is an offense to be immediately downstream from a hydro dam….as the TV ads have been advising. To deal with the unreliability of wind the hydro dams must suddenly without warning do their thing….potentially drowning boaters or fishermen downstream….flash floods…..
Two whole hours without any wind power?
McSquinty must have been asleep.
By the time the insiders and rent seekers have made their pile on the taxpayer’s dime, the scrap yards will be filled to the brim with worn out windmills ready to be “prepped and donated” to some accommodating third world backwater.
Sasquatch, using hydro power to balance wind power is just plain economic stupidity. You are using expensive(13.5c/KWh) “green” carbon free energy to replace existing cheap green energy (1.5c/KWh). This is what Ontario currently does, while telling everyone they are shutting down coal power.
This lie only works because manufacturing and mining has been so decimated in the past two years that overall energy consumption in Ontario is down about 20% to 30%. Thus OPG is able to shut down some coal generating facilities altogether. As demand slowly returns, Ontario is racing to build sufficient NG capacity to keep those coal plants shut, and avoid adding reactors. Pickering Nuclear, BTW, currently about 25% of total provincial generating capacity, is scheduled to close in 2020.
The next step in the giant fan farce occurs when wind energy capacity reaches about 10% of demand, or in the area of 1800 MW. Above that point, the grid becomes too unstable due to the wind voltage fluctuation, and will fail. (All talk about a “smart” grid at this point is… all talk.)
IESO, who are keepers of the provincial grid and who by law are required to purchase renewable energy, will start to pay wind and solar operators NOT to produce energy. Britain, for example, paid the wind industry $1 billion in May not to produce.
In the meantime, current environmental regulations in Ontario allow wind turbines operators to “take” 9 birds per MW. Alberta should be so lucky.
There are a number out near the Harrow area in Essex County. This is the one that had OPP calling on farmers. I drove by last week and maybe 25 percent of them were turning and they want to put more out on Lake Erie. What a boondoggle.
Hardly surprising to anyone who has sailed the Great Lakes in summer. Typically light, fickle winds rule the day.
What a boondoggle, but then what else do you expect from Soviet style politicians.
An oil sands tailings pond kills 1600 ducks through a mechanical failure and according to the green wackos it is an environmental disaster of epic proportions. But, tens of thousands of birds die every year from these windmills and it is just fine by them. Go figure.
At least the giant fans are more reliable than politicians.
john 8:25
I couldn’t agree more. I was pointing out the one positive aspect to wind energy…..which none-the-less is stupid math.
Wind capital cost is 3X nuclear and much worse against coal.
My other point was the expense of the backup generators. The only backup with the needed flexibility is hydro. NG turbines come close….but are inefficient fuel wise compared to using the NG in a steam plant.
Steam is a highly developed/highly efficient technology whether fossil fueled or nuclear.
Wind was abandoned (except in niche applications such as remote locations) a century back because it is inefficient, unreliable and expensive.
We didn’tleave the age of wind because we ran out of wind anymore than we abandoned stone age technology because we ran outa rocks.
The biggest crime/shame is this whole mess is the result of the AGW scam which anyone smarter than a 5th grader dismissed as BS right off the hop.
Do your part….make a point of bending as many ears as possible EVERY OPPORTUNITY about the stupidity of the whole issue….wind, green energy, CO2, Gore the IPCC, the UN…..
Ken (Kulak)
My greatest laugh about OIL-SANDS critics was the assertion that the tailing ponds were polluting the ground water….already polluted by the presense of the natural deposit of TAR-SANDS.
The Greenie main complaint of the TAR-SANDs is the prospect that they will provide power for our industrialized capitalist society…..same reason the SIERRA CLUB seeks to remove EVERY hydro-electric dam.
GREEN = LUDDITE
Ken Kulak; ‘An oil sands tailings pond kills 1600 ducks through a mechanical failure and according to the green wackos it is an environmental disaster of epic proportions. But, tens of thousands of birds die every year from these windmills and it is just fine by them. Go figure.’
So true Ken, and that horrible howling sound from those bird mangling machines confuses the sonar waves that honey bees use to find their way home. Wind power should be limited to small safe windmills; the windmills should be flat and short and privately owned. Where IS PETA?
If only they had the balls to add a counter to track the commensurate outrageous subsidies …
http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/siteshared/windtracker.asp
Look on the bright side, homes in the future won’t need light switches, on-off will be an automatic feature.(mostly off)
Jema:
As it so happens, a story about bird blenders in June 30 Financial Post.
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/06/30/windmills-kill-more-birds/
More proof that our dear leader here in Ontario has not a clue in what he’s doing. Math has never been a strong point with our provincial government. Ontario is in a race to the bottom with California for who can be seen as the greenest and the most bankrupt( our budget deficit is about the same as California’s and we have one third of the population). The sad part our community here in Huron County is being divided by neighbour’s who have signed up to have a windmill build on their farm and those who do not want them or have to look at them. I have suggested Mr. McGuinty have a wind farm built beside his home and we will see how his neighbours react.
Thanks for the link, set you free. I like your idea Farmer Bill. The Goricle should have a few big turbines planted on his new estate too. Saookee should also have many installed in and around his property on Salt Spring Island. Make an example out of these little greenie fellas.
Giant fans? What stinking giant fans?
http://www.mei.gov.on.ca/en/energy/renewable/index.php?page=gea
McGuinty has hired Reuters to create his government websites. Fauxtograhy at its best.
PS I took a screen print, lol.
A simple question that should be put to McGuinty at every opportunity:
Would you accept a major wind turbine development 500m from your home in Ottawa, or your cottage?
If not, then why not.
Similarly this question could be directed to Robert Kennedy. Al Gore, Dr Fruit Fly and other assorted wind bags.
The answer is obvious, wind power developments are for the “little people” in rural boondocks.