Resource Library Category: Grid
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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.
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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Evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry into ‘The Economics of Renewable Energy’
Author: Bratby, Philip
10 My evidence is mainly concerned with wind power stations for generating electricity. This is because these form the major component of all major country’s future renewable energy policies. …
11 The most important consideration for the future electricity supply has to be security of that supply. …
12 Security of supply implies firm generation capacity with a margin above the peak (winter) demand. The firm generation is supplied by baseload power stations (such as nuclear) and despatchable (controlled by the grid) power (such as coal, gas . . .
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Grid
Wind Energy Production Tracking
Author: National Wind Watch, Inc.
Some electrical systems around the world provide up-to-the-minute tracking of wind energy production for the public. Here are links to those records. Note that some of them involve advanced web technology that may not work on all browsers or computer systems. Please contact National Wind Watch with any other such links or with usage tips.
Ireland (Eirgrid): hourly wind generation and total system demand
Germany: hourly production
Spain: real-time production
Spain: balance of all sources
Ontario: hourly load by generating facility
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How DOE + AWEA = DOA
Author: Droz, John
Comments on the U.S. Department of Energy’s “20% Wind Energy by 2030” Report (May 2008)
‘Reading the sections about projected CO2 emission savings, the report appears to be a rehashing of prior work, with little (if any) new information or data provided. It is further diminished by technical errors, conflicting information, and a frequent lack of citations to independent sources supporting the aggressive recommendations, etc. This is likely due to the fact that the only non-governmental partners in this project are . . .
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Wind energy production records from the San Gorgonio Pass, Calif.
Author: Alexandra Weit
The first two pages of graphs show the production from the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs and Tehachapi, Calif., combined. The next pages of production records are from the San Gorgonio Pass only, with hourly, monthly, and annual data. The last 2 pages show the “gross system power” in California for 2006.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, the installed capacity in the San Gorgonio Pass is 565 MW. The production in 2006 was 732,561,714 kWh, or 14% of . . .
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Windenergy: the whole truth [Windmolens en wat meestal verzwegen wordt]
Author: Halkema, J.A.
‘In order to make a fair judgment on the possible usefulness of windturbines for the production of “clean electricity” (energy generated by wind, as a major source of green renewable energy), one should only use arguments based on reality. Biased statements based on the concerns of windturbines makers or on political motivations ought to be refrained, as they are suspicious beforehand.
‘Apart from being rational, the arguments used in a debate should also be underpinned by numbers. And it speaks for . . .
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Letter to Warsaw County Courier
Author: Schleede, Glenn
Three years ago, Horizon Wind Energy’s Mr. Davidson might have been able to “get away with” the half-truths and false claims made in his letter that you published on March 13, 2008. However, much has been learned about wind energy and the facts do not support his claims. For example:
1. Wind turbines are not a reliable source of electricity. While they are huge machines, they produce very little electricity and that electricity is intermittent, volatile, and unreliable. Their output is . . .
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Electric industry terms
Author: Schleede, Glenn
Valuable glossary of terms important to the discussion of wind energy on the electric energy supply grid.
Download “Electric industry terms”
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Getting Up To Speed On Wind Power
Author: Droz, John
Overview of the situation (an introduction, outline, etc.)
Executive Summary (a one page, two point summary of the wind power issue)
Environmental Choice (a discussion of lesser known environmental hazards, plus an alternative to wind power)
an RPS analogy (RPS is at the core of the problem, and is the key thing that needs to be fixed)
Extensive List of References (a substantial amount of information about the wind power issue)
Download “Getting Up To Speed On Wind Power”
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Windfarms cannot meet UK Government’s renewable energy target
Author: Courtney, Richard
Synopsis: This paper suggests the use of windfarms cannot make significant contribution to reducing the emissions and suggests the construction of tidal coffer dams instead. Windfarms for power generation provide intermittent power so they merely displace thermal power stations onto standby mode or to operate at reduced efficiency while the thermal power stations wait for the wind to change. They make no significant reduction to pollution because thermal power stations continue to use their fuel and to produce their emissions . . .
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