Wind Power: How We Got Here  

Author:  Droz, John

For 100 years, six criteria have been used to assess commercial electricity generators:

1. Can they provide large amounts of electricity?
2. Can they provide reliable and predictable electricity?
3. Can they provide dispatchable electricity?
4. Can they service one or more grid demand elements (base load, load following, or peak load)?
5. Can their facilities be compact (so that they can be sited near demand)?
6. Can they provide economical electricity?

Today, a new one has been added, often trumping all six other criteria: Can they reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Do industrial-scale wind energy turbines meet these criteria?

1. Yes, but with disproportionately huge amounts of land and equipment.
2. No.
3. No.
4. No.
5. No.
6. No.
7. No.

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