For the fourth time in 16 days, Alberta’s wind power drops to near zero output

16 Replies to “For the fourth time in 16 days, Alberta’s wind power drops to near zero output”

1. That’s why you need spinning backup to keep the grid going. There would be no confusion on wind power economics if windfarm proponents had to sell grid ready power (provide their own necessarily inefficient spinning backup or batteries which involves costs that only the innumerate could accept). They would be relegated to the off-grid world if it weren’t for green theocracy substituting for physics, math , and economics.

   1. Yes J C. But you do understand the intellect of the average canadian. I am close to calling it zero, not net zero, just plain zero as there is zero thought going on. Physics, math, economics, sorry, they no longer matter, it is now a religion. All must bow and worship stupidity.

      1. I’m convinced it’s a negative number.

2. Say it isn’t so. In Ontario today on an island in lake Ontario, all the wind turbines were dormant, as in not f****** running. A sailboat off the island had its sails down and was running on it’s, horror of horrors, gas powered engine. There really is not cure for this. Well, death, maybe.

3. I don’t get why this is news. Everyone knows the wind doesn’t blow sometimes, it’s not an unforeseen outcome.

   I don’t think that anyone sitting on the fence about this stuff is going to find this convincing, meanwhile you’re getting angry about a known and widely admitted and accepted feature of wind generation.

   I don’t really care that much about it, I’m not trying to ‘push renewables’ or anything. I care more about trying to stop the freaks and perverts from destroying everything but I think you’re expending a lot of emotional energy in a pointless, self defeating way here. If there is something destructive about wind generation then you have to do better than pointing out every time the wind doesn’t blow.

   1. I think many feel that, while clearly the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine all the time, the retarded rush towards
      these ‘sources of energy’ when they clearly don’t provide baseline power at a reasonable cost makes no sense.

      Just so you know, I feel the ‘climate change’ narrative is total BS!

   2. Steve, I agree. It isn’t news. It’s why the Dutch stopped relying on only wind power to pump water in the 18th century.

      But as for this, “I care more about trying to stop the freaks and perverts from destroying everything…”. I agree with you, but that’s what’s so hopeless about so many of the commenters on SDA. They aren’t interested in or capable of persuading anyone of the folly of wind generation. This place has become little more than a dumpster for disillusioned conservatives incapable of engaging the wider public in anything useful. By whining only to themselves they have become irrelevant to society as whole.

      1. All above Liberal Bull shit

   3. I can understand why you might think that. However, in the past few weeks, I’ve been told over the phone, by email and in person from elected officials, coal miners, power workers and business people that my continued coverage on this has made a big difference, here in Saskatchewan, and for Estevan. I got this in an email this morning: “Thanks for doing what you do man…..I credit you with all the positive action on the power generation front. I’m pretty sure Moe would never have come out and said what he said without you holding his feet to the fire and opening the eyes of other people to do the same. Hats off to you!”

      And SaskPower publishing daily power data starting in September was, I’ve been told, a direct result of my hammering them in each one of these stories for providing no data to the public at all prior to that.

      So I think it has been worth it. But I will be doing less on the power front and back to oil and gas for the next while.

   4. I’m not so sure how widely admitted and accepted these “features” actually are. There are many out there who believe you just keep adding more name plate wind power and do away with back-up. So in this case you increase total wind capability by 1,000 times and damn the fact that when the wind is blowing almost all of your power production needs to be taken offline. Until there is some acceptance that reliable back-up means power generated by gas, oil or coal, then wind power logically has to fail for any purpose on the grid.

   5. Something destructive about wind generation? You mean besides the amount of mining needed to construct these bird cuisinarts? Besides the lack of reclaiming said resources when the beasts reach the end of their lifespans? Besides the low frequency noise pollution? Besides the fascistic co-mingling of government subsides and corporate rent seeking needed to fuel this abomination? Ad nauseam. OK.

   6. Judging the future based on the past is SOOOO paternalistic.

      Something destructive about wind generation? The deaths of thousands of large avian predators. The eagles are now headed for extinction, as are some species of whales. Fossil fuels saved the whales; renewable energy will wipe them from the oceans.

4. Anheiser Busch has a brewery in Fairfield CA.

   https://www.anheuser-busch.com/breweries/fairfield-ca

   At first, they installed one giant wind tower … because Obama was President. But then, they added a second one … to maintain power while the broken down wind tower was out of service. And that doesn’t account for the backup power they use when the wind isn’t blowing.

   But GOOD NEWS! Their overall business is down about 35% … so they don’t need so much power. It’s a win-wind

5. So. There’s an obvious solution, right?

   More *&^%$#g windmills! Of course!

   1. There must be someone out there that thinks windmills make wind.

      1. There you have it, VOWG! A solution!

         Pair them up. Windmill A fans the vanes of Windmill B which produces sufficient electricity (maybe) to turn Windmill A.