Resource Library Category: Germany
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Documents presented here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch. This resource library is provided to assist anyone wishing to research the issue of industrial wind power and the impacts of its development. The information should be evaluated by each reader to come to their own conclusions about the many areas of debate.
Incidents and images of damage to wind energy converters
Author: Alt, Helmut
“According to estimates by the German insurance association, GDV, a total of € 30 million were paid in premiums for insuring the wind machines compared to almost € 45 million paid in damages for plant outages (this corresponds to around 0.3 ct/kWh).”
From “The economics of wind energy within the generation mix” (”Energiewirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Windenergie im Stromerzeugungsmix”) [click to download]
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Balancing Fluctuating Wind Energy with Fossil-Fuel Power Stations
Author: Leonhard, W.; and Müller, K.
‘The simulation results show that even at this low penetration of wind energy, the infeed causes a hidden increase of the specific fuel consumption in remote fossil generating stations; in other words, they are now producing less electrical energy but with a higher fuel consumption and CO2- emissions per kWh. Substantial power reserves are necessary to guard against uncertainties of the wind power forecast and possible protective shut-downs of windfarms, which further strengthens the tendency towards a less efficient part-load-operation . . .
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Industrial wind: a failure written in the European statistics
Author: Fédération Environnement Durable
[from "Eolien industriel: un échec en filigrane dans les statistiques Européennes"]
Does large-scale development of industrial wind energy actually reduce the consumption of fossil fuels or emission of CO2?
Comparison of per-capita wind and thermal electricity production and CO2 emissions in Germany, Denmark, Spain, and France.
Germany — most industrial wind facilities in the world (18,400 MW in 2005) –
2005: 10.6 tonnes CO2 per capita, 6.4 tonnes from electricity
+190% per capita production from wind from 2000 to 2005
+9% per capita thermal electricity production from . . .
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Wind Power in Germany — 2005
Author: Eon Netz
2006 Supplement to Wind Power 2005, with data from the year 2005.
Download “Wind Power in Germany”
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Bird losses at wind energy plants in Germany
Author: Dürr, Tobias
This table lists all dead birds found at German wind energy plants from Spring 2002 to September 2007. These counts are not the result of regular or rigorous sampling and therefore represent only a very small fraction of the true numbers killed. The author notes that in Brandenburg roughly the same number of dead bats have been found.
Download “Bird losses at wind energy plants in Germany”
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Physical dangers of wind turbines
Author: Spiegel (Der)
[These photos accompanied an article in the August 24, 2007, Der Spiegel, which is available here at National Wind Watch.]
Short circuits, friction or lightening strikes can cause wind turbines to go up in flames — like this one in 2004. Fire fighters can often only stand around and watch, their ladders too short to do anything about it. [DPA]
Wind turbines have to withstand massive amounts of strain — especially during storms. This one came crashing down in 2002. Recent storms . . .
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KLADEA documents on wind turbine impacts
Author: Schorn, Brigitte
Wind Energy is not free, clean and green energy, as we have been led to believe.
The minimal electricity contribution from wind turbines comes at a huge cost not just in financial terms, but also in terms of the immeasurable irreversible damage this industry does to:
People’s Health and Quality of Life (see all reports)
Wildlife (see Ireland and UK report)
Our environment (see all reports)
Property prices (see all reports)
Tourism (see Germany report)
From our extensive research conducted over the past 14 months, we have . . .
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Downside of wind energy
Author: Eon Kraftwerke
Wind power necessitates new high-voltage lines
An increasingly common sight in the North of Germany: wind turbines wherever you look. And the turbines themselves are not the only things that detract from the landscape; the associated transmission infrastructure can be unsightly too.
Wind turbines detract from the visual quality of the landscapes
Whether or not a particular location is a pleasant place to live depends on air quality, the level of noise pollution, and, to a very large extent, the visual quality of . . .
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Fluctuating wind output and subsidies
Author: Eon Kraftwerke
Since wind energy on its own is not capable of delivering a reliable supply of electricity it can never be a substitute for large, centralized power stations.
The force of the wind generally fluctuates considerably within the space of a few days and even a few hours. Sometimes the wind can drop just when the demand for electricity is at its peak. The following graph, which documents the amount of electricity generated during the month of November in 2001, illustrates this . . .
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Wind Turbine Accidents 1997-2006
Author: Eisenkopf, Werner
“BUNDESWEITE DATENBANK DER WINDRAD-UNFÃLLE”
fär den Bundesverband Landschaftsschutz [Federal Association for Landscape Protection]
These pages are in German. They include some photos.
Download: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
For rough translations to English, via Google: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
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