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Wind Power News: May 2005
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
It’s Easy Being Green
..as a Vermonter, I’m for preserving our ridgelines (as Act 250 was designed to do) and our natural landscapes. The integrity of our environment is not only a source of our strength and pride it is also critical to our economic wellbeing. It makes no sense to sacrifice who and what we are and what we have for no useful purpose. Complete story »
Killer wind
The wind turbines of Altamont Pass, blades glinting in the afternoon sun, have become a welcome signpost of home for me over the years. As the plane I’m on begins its descent into Oakland, the wind farm – more than the Sierra, more than the flatness of the Central Valley – marks a kind of boundary. Part of it is esthetic, part symbolic: I’m back where clean, renewable energy is taken seriously. But wind power is not just a California . . . Complete story »
Columnist overlooked harsh reality of wind power
Letter to the Editor Complete story »
Columnist overlooked harsh reality of wind power
Jonathan Van Fleet’s column on May 7 titled, “What-ifs aired as windmill plan gains,” suggests he’s enamored of the ideal of wind energy, but spent little time verifying the downside. Since wind is intermittent and largely unpredictable, industrial wind plants produce minuscule amounts of electricity. A 30-megawatt site, as proposed in Lempster, operates on average at 25 percent capacity, or 7.5-megawatts (compared to Seabrook’s 1000-MW and Londonderry’s gas plant 720-MW). For such a limited power source, wind facilities are massive . . . Complete story »
Danes blow away wealth in wind power exports
There is an added irony here. The Danish consumer pays the highest tariffs for electricity in Europe. Much of these are hypothecated for the support of windmill owners. However, the wind power is sold on the spot market at rates that are much lower. Complete story »
Japan Capping Wind Power
A surge in wind power supply has raised concerns among regional utilities that a greater dependence on natural forces may destabilize their power grids. Complete story »
Waymart facility troubles residents
Standing at the base of one of the 43 turbines comprising the Waymart Wind Farm, it’s easy to see how the towering structures dominate the landscape. Each structure stands 213 feet high, and the three blades, each measuring 110 feet in length, spin effortlessly atop Moosic Mountain in western Wayne County. The first glimpse of the turbines from state Route 6 presents a surreal image like something from a Road Warrior movie. “It’s not beautiful or complimentary,” said Waymart resident . . . Complete story »
The Costs of a Windless Day
Environmental issues for windpower developers get the most press. But equally persistent is the question of intermittency-the fact that wind is the least predictable energy fuel for electricity production. The question is challenging on many levels for both generation and delivery. Complete story »
The Costs of a Windless Day
Environmental issues for windpower developers gel the most press. But equally persistent is the question of intermittency-the fact that wind is the least predictable energy fuel for electricity production. The question is challenging on many levels for both generation and delivery. Maintaining the Margin A thermal plant may be able to change and maintain output levels very precisely, but wind probably won’t blow at, say, a required 25 miles per hour for a particular length of time. In fact, on . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines no help to Vermonters
What is unique to this state are the wild mountain tops for which Vermonters old and new have worked for a hundred years to restore and preserve. The desire to violate them not with manured hay fields but with collections of 330-foot-high steel and composite wind turbines -- for insignificant benefit other than profits for a few -- reveals a set of values that some people do not find attractive, wherever they come from. Complete story »
