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Wind Power News: Blogs
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission to provide information about industrial wind energy development to readers seeking such information. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the credited organizations or individuals and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
The engineering reality of intermittent renewable energy
I often hear people say that transitioning to renewable energy is simply a matter of building enough wind turbines and solar panels. Unfortunately, electricity systems do not operate according to slogans, political aspirations or social media memes. They operate according to the laws of physics and engineering. For more than a century, modern economies have relied on a simple principle. Electricity must be available every second of every day. The moment generation and demand fall out of balance, even briefly, . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines shrink alpine diversity
In 2023, over 40% of European wind farms were installed in alpine habitats, and research shows they can cut alpine meadow species diversity by up to 5% per megawatt. Alpine Plant Dynamics When I first visited a wind-farm-lined ridge in the Austrian Alps, the turbines loomed like metal sentinels over the fragile meadow. The sheer scale of the installations surprised me, but the data painted a clearer picture. The 2023 IRENA report notes that more than 40% of European wind . . . Complete story »
Seabirds are abandoning waters with wind turbines, and 256,000 have already vanished without a trace
Something strange is happening offshore. In areas where wind turbines now rise from the water, entire flocks of seabirds are no longer there. Not fewer. Not scattered. Gone. At first, it wasn’t obvious. These are vast stretches of ocean, and movement is part of nature. But over time, researchers began to notice a pattern that was hard to ignore. Hundreds of thousands of birds had abandoned waters they once depended on. So what changed? How offshore wind farms altered the . . . Complete story »
The problem with wind energy in the Northwest
This was a bad week for wind energy in the Northwest, but before I discuss this, let’s step back for a few minutes. There is a lot of interest in renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest that could supplement our hydropower. With our northern latitude and extensive clouds for much of the year, solar energy can only make a small contribution. To illustrate, here is the annual solar energy map for the U.S. Western Oregon and Washington have poor solar . . . Complete story »
Why opposing Hope Moor Wind Farm isn’t NIMBYism
Ten years ago, there was a planning application for a single wind turbine that would have been closer to my home than the proposed Hope Moor Wind Farm. I remember seeing the notice on the lane and feeling a flicker of concern. But on reflection, I chose not to object. It was small-scale, sensitively placed, and part of what most of us would recognise as sensible progress towards renewables. When I first heard of the Hope Moor proposal, I assumed . . . Complete story »
Uppsala University publishes new study: Infrasound from modern wind turbines significantly underestimated
A new peer-reviewed study from Uppsala University reveals that infrasound from modern, large-scale wind turbines has been severely underestimated in previous research and assessments. The study, titled “Efficient finite difference modeling of infrasound propagation in realistic 3D domains: Validation with wind turbine measurements,” was conducted by Professor Ken Mattsson and his research team Gustav Eriksson, Leif Persson, José Chilo, and Kourosh Tatar. Using the advanced simulation tool SoundSim 360, the researchers were able to perform highly detailed 3D calculations showing . . . Complete story »
Boulder Creek Wind construction photos
Boulder Creek Wind – I had the opportunity last week with Steven Nowakowski Panoscapes to inspect the progress of this project between Westwood and Mount Morgan, near Rockhampton. Here’s a sneak peak of some of the photos showing the destruction of the koala habitat and untouched ranges that are cleared and blasted for access roads and installation of wind turbines. Complete story »
Mechanical giants on sacred soil: The Banahaw wind power saga
A titan emerges on the horizon: 38 colossal wind turbines, each towering like a pristine 40-storey building, dotting nearly 4,536 hectares across ten barangays of Sariaya-Tayabas, Quezon. GigaWind4, Inc. – a subsidiary of Ayala’s GigaWind4 under ACEN – plans to invest a staggering ₱24.5 billion. The turbines promise 247 MW of clean energy, with 120 m towers and 171 m blades, connected by 36 km of new roads, substations, storage sites, and worker quarters. But a shadow looms: 28 turbines will lie within a mere 3 km . . . Complete story »
Why wind power isn’t always as clean as it seems
Wind power often conjures images of spinning white turbines against clear blue skies, promising a future free from pollution and climate threats. But behind these graceful giants lies a story that’s more complicated than we’re often told. Did you know that the journey of a wind turbine, from raw materials to the end of its life, leaves behind a trail that isn’t always as green as it looks? For many, the idea that wind energy has hidden costs is both . . . Complete story »
Interior order chokes off permits for solar and wind on federal lands
The Interior Department released a new secretarial order Friday saying it may no longer issue any permits to a solar or wind project on federal lands unless the agency believes it will generate as much energy per acre as a coal, gas, or nuclear power plant. Hypothetically, this could kill off any solar or wind project going through permitting that is sited on federal lands, because these facilities would technically be less energy dense than coal, gas, and nuclear plants. . . . Complete story »
