A skeptic second-guesses Pickens
Mr. T. Boone Pickens has been very vocal regarding his support for solar and wind power to answer all our energy needs. They’re both good ideas — to a point.
They are renewable sources of energy, albeit a little unreliable. Still or cloudy days can be a little problem, and nightfall happens regularly, but everyone knows that the utility company with its hydro, steam and gas turbines will come to the rescue — or will it? Spinning reserves are expensive.
One little detail that Mr. Pickens seems unwilling to mention (I’m sure he knows but won’t say) is that the steam or gas turbine at the utility power station uses about 40 percent of its full load energy requirement to sit there idle waiting for the cloud to cover the sun, the wind to stop or night to fall. Otherwise, you will have frequent power outages.
Idle turbines tend to overheat, and shut down turbines tend to fail to start at a moment’s notice. Turbines are most efficient when fully loaded. Are we ready for this?
There is more to power generation and distribution that one would do well to research before we accept feel-good ideas.
Gerald McGovern
retired engineer
Darrow
12 August 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
