Turbines a waste
The Standard | April 22, 2013 | www.standard.net.auThe Standard | April 22, 2013 | www.standard.net.au
The Standard | April 22, 2013 | www.standard.net.auThe Standard | April 22, 2013 | www.standard.net.au
Premiere Denis Napthine has lauded the opening of a wind turbine farm near Macarthur.
My question to the Premier is: “Why are you wasting taxpayer’s money on wind farms?” No doubt he is wanting to be trendy and placate the carping hordes of environmentalists ensconced on Spring Street.
Wind turbines will generate on average 30 per cent of their rated capacity over any given year. The turbines can only work in low wind, and periods of widespread low wind are infrequent. Wind farms need back-up power as the probability of very low wind output coinciding with peak electricity demand is slight.
In England research on wind farms has found for a 26-month period between November 2008 and December 2010, the average output from wind turbines was 27.18 per cent of metered capacity in 2009. It was 21.14 per cent in 2010 and 24.08 per cent in 2010.
In addition, there were 124 separate occasions from November 2008 to December 2010 when total generation from wind farms metered by the English national grid was less than 20MW. This is staggering when one considers the average capacity over the above period was in excess of 1600MW.
For the same money, Hazelwood could have been made almost pollution-free with modern technology.
Squandering billions on so-called renewable energy projects will not achieve any long-term benefit for this state.
Alan Barron, Grovedale
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/22/turbines-a-waste/