Do turbines save money?
No one should feel guilty about questioning industrial wind. Regardless of how big the turbines get, the ability to produce meaningful energy for consumers is extremely limited.
To understand the limits of industrial wind power there needs to be an understanding of how our grid works. Energy must be maintained at all times. Drops or increases in voltage can cause the grid to fail.
The amount of energy that is used by consumers at any time must be pre-estimated by grid operators.
These operators must have access to a power source ready to meet what they know will be the demand for that time frame. They cannot depend on power from wind as there is no way to know what will be available in the future.
It would seem that if wind goes online there would be a reduced use of energy from other sources. If operators could just shut off other energy sources that might work, but it is not that simple.
To keep the grid stable, operators must know they have power available.
They must prearrange by buying a block of power to be delivered from a reliable source at a specific time. If this power gets used we get our money’s worth.
If it is not used, due to wind coming on line, we have just paid for reliable power that was not used.
We pay twice when wind goes on line, once for the cheaper prepaid reliable power and once for the more expensive, after the fact, wind power. In the end, little to no CO2 has been saved.
So the question we should be asking is, “Why are we building huge industrial wind turbines?” Feel-good symbolism? Big money for developers?
MAUREEN ANDERSON, Amherstburg
18 July 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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