Wind viability
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE | The Chronicle Herald | February 5, 2016 | thechronicleherald.ca
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE | The Chronicle Herald | February 5, 2016 | thechronicleherald.ca
Re: Nova Scotia Power defends tariffs for new renewable market, but wind developer says costs will likely be excessive (Jan 19). Dan Roscoe stated he is “not expecting the market to be viable.” But is the wind energy product he wants to sell viable?
Mr. Roscoe says “aging coal-fired generation assets are no longer needed.” That is incorrect.
There are four major thermal steam plants using coal, pet-coke and heavy oil: Trenton, 307 MW; Point Tupper, 152 MW; Lingan, 617 MW and Point Aconi, 171 MW – for a total of 1,247 MW.
They all have a defined design life. Retirement of these plants is planned for and described in the 10-Year system outlook report produced by NSP.
If the three demands for electricity (base load, load following and peak load) are understood, along with the existing generation resources, which are in constant transition to achieve 40 per cent renewable energy in 2020, it becomes very evident how complex the entire system is and how critical the supply of firm electricity is for health and safety and security within our province.
Unless Mr. Roscoe has discovered industrial-scale electricity storage, he must understand how dependent his intermittent wind energy will be on the NSPI electrical system. That dependency has a very large capital and operational cost.
The capacity of wind energy on the system is already approaching a critical size for grid balancing.
It may be more viable to focus on energy efficiency and conservation products.
Warren Peck, Black River Road, Kings Co.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/02/06/wind-viability/