The technology for building and operating this sort of transmission system in the howling gales of the German Bight is largely untried. And once the cables reach shore they will have to pass through populated areas on their way to connect with Germany’s central power grid. To appease NIMBYs (those who reflexively say “not in my backyard”) some of the lines may have to be buried, at further great expense: perhaps 25 times the cost of stringing the cables on pylons. As the project keeps slipping behind schedule the combined cost of the platforms and cables, most recently put at €8 billion ($10.4 billion), looks like rising further. […]
But there remains a danger that, even if no further technical hitches arise, the enormous project will end up being a white elephant. Investors have gone cool on building windmills in German waters because of their costs and doubts over future electricity rates. A study, commissioned from an independent consultant by TenneT, reckons that less than 6GW of the planned 14GW of turbines are likely to be built by 2023. If so, laments VZBV, a consumer body, Germans will end up paying heavily for a lot of useless transmission gear out at sea.
Related: Mafia turning to wind farms to launder money. Reader Steve emails: “Organized crime meets organized crime”
h/t Mark C, Maz2
How many flying fish have to die before we admit that windmills will not replace fossil fuels for energy?
14 gigawatts of Wind power?
That is a gigantic project.
Surely it will be a white elephant of epic scale.
And, as the article notes, the power management challenges are difficult even in theory. Mitigating going from near zero to a full 14 gigs in the matter of a few minutes is going to be very costly if not impossible.
And see Charles bringing the Krauthammer down:
“Charles Krauthammer: Obama’s global-warming folly”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-obamas-global-warming-folly/2013/07/04/a51c4ed0-e3fc-11e2-a11e-c2ea876a8f30_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
Mark
Ottawa
Reader Steve emails: “Organized crime meets organized crime”
Seems to have meshed well in Ontario.
Yes, Ontario Liberals have their own “Wynne Farms”!
As usual; saving the Planet from hot air from the politicians with the whining of fake scientists is costing people.Environmentalism is a racket for tax with grants. Global warming being its signature boogeyman enabling politicians to skin even more money from gullible people.
mafia meets the REAL CROOKS, government!!!!
It occurs to me that once the number of windmills becomes a critical mass, the wind paterns on the surface of the planet will change something fierce. They are messing with something they have no idea about.
This may happen from one day to the next. Who is going to fix that.
Now, while O is still around, he can make the oceans recede and other such miracles, the wind should be a piece of cake for him. What happens though when he becomes horizontal?
It occurs to me that once the number of windmills becomes a critical mass, the wind patterns on the surface of the planet will change something fierce. They are messing with something they have no idea about.
I have no idea if windmills will actually affect weather patterns, but what we do know is this — if it’s a green project, then all the objections greens apply to stymie other people’s projects suddenly disappear. A species of tiny snail can stop an irrigation project, but the deaths of literally millions of birds have no effect on wind turbine installations.