LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

News Watch Home

DOE lab: Turbine power plunges when tax credits go away 

Credit:  David Iaconangelo, E&E News reporter | Published: Thursday, May 21, 2020 | www.eenews.net ~~

Wind farms often produce less power when they age past the 10-year mark because the loss of federal tax credits halts maintenance – a finding that could shift policymakers’ plans for climate policy, according to a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The research, published in the journal Joule last week, is the first comprehensive account of how wind turbines across the United States degrade over time, according to researchers. Wind made up close to 8% of the nation’s power last year, when it overtook hydropower as the largest generator of renewable electricity.

The lab found that after the first 10 years of operation, wind turbines tended to experience an “abrupt decline” in performance, which continued as time went on. They produced less electricity than possible given wind conditions at a specific site.

The sudden drop-off suggested that the plants’ operators were doing something different: Since they could no longer profit from the decadelong production tax credit (PTC), companies were doing less to protect against wear and tear, having apparently decided it no longer made good financial sense, according to the paper.

After 17 years, the lost energy was equivalent to taking away 1 out of every 10 turbines in a wind farm, said Dev Millstein, a scientist at LBNL and co-author of the study.

The finding could lead some policymakers to reconsider how they value wind in the future, researchers said.

“A lot of times, the degradation of wind plants’ performance over time gets ignored,” said Millstein. “If you’re making decisions for a 20-year lifetime, it starts to matter – or if you’re estimating the cost of a project.”

Under pressure from emissions reduction laws, power companies in many states are elevating wind’s role in their long-term plans for sourcing electricity. And utility regulators, grid operators and other officials tasked with protecting grid reliability are in some cases banking heavily on wind power. In New England and the Mid-Atlantic, for example, several states have effectively ended new gas pipelines in hopes that a future fleet of giant offshore wind turbines will fill in the blank.

“The main use of these results are to help get accurate projections of how much energy wind plants are going to provide over their lifetime,” Millstein said. “That’s beneficial to the industry and to long-term planners because you’re not misrepresenting the amount of energy your plant might generate.”

Wind farm operators have a number of life-prolonging maintenance options at their disposal, including software updates, component replacements and subtler measures that protect blades from erosion.

Even after the 10-year PTC period elapsed and companies discontinued those kinds of activities, though, the U.S. fleet continued to perform fairly well compared with those of other countries, noted Millstein.

Newer wind turbines, or those built after 2008, have also proved more resilient during their first decade of life. Longer blades have allowed turbines to operate at full capacity under less windy conditions.

However, those might also see a drop-off in performance after a decade, said Millstein. “Hopefully, we get to do the research in a few years, once we have data,” he said.

“But my hypothesis would be that we’ll see some of the same behavior, where they lose some of the performance,” he added.

Source:  David Iaconangelo, E&E News reporter | Published: Thursday, May 21, 2020 | www.eenews.net

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon