We should monitor wind farm output
The Herald, www.heraldscotland.com 5 January 2011
The John Muir Trust (JMT), one of Scotland’s leading conservation bodies, has challenged the common assertion that wind farms run at an average of 30% capacity over a year and proved that wind turbines are 25% less effective than the renewable energy industry claims. That is a huge difference.
A study carried out for the trust into the energy generated by dozens of wind farms, the majority of which are in Scotland, between November 2009 and last month, found they actually ran at only 22% of capacity.
Campaigners insist the figures, drawn from data provided by the National Grid, challenges the role of wind farms as an efficient source of renewable energy. They said hundreds of wind farms had secured planning permission across Scotland based on inaccurate or false assumptions of their output. This is a good reason to halt all new proposals and examine the developers claims.
Existing wind farms should be monitored and if they do not achieve the output as submitted to the planning authorities then heavy financial penalties must be imposed.
After all the public pay for the wind turbine subsidy through their energy bills.
Clark Cross,
Linlithgow.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/01/05/we-should-monitor-wind-farm-output/