OK, so I spent 11 hours in the car yesterday and for a portion of that drive I was driving through the north central portion of a state that will remain nameless. I was heading to Minnesota from the south (you may have figured out the nameless state by now) and this state had obviously invested tons of money in wind energy. Now the weather yesterday was one of the windiest days I've experienced in a long while. Do you know how many windmills were spinning their little hearts out, producing gobs of clean, oil-fee energy? ZERO! So why would a state invest roughly $600,000 a turbine, have a day with awesome, strong winds, and face the turbines in the wrong direction?
Maybe it was too cold for the turbines (the wind chill was below zero)? Never mind the fact that you are placing the turbines in the flat plains of America where there is nothing to stop the wind from driving the weather well below zero. Never mind the fact that some studies are showing that colder weather may help produce more energy (air density - pushing more air makes the generator work harder - more energy) (http://www.hindawi.com/). Why should you be prepared to run turbines in cold weather?
I don't know the reasons; I am not a scientist. I do however despise wasted taxpayer and energy customer money. When I see a whole "wind farm" sitting as quiet as a cemetery in the middle of a high-wind storm, I am troubled. I am all for alternate fuel and cutting foreign dependency, but good-night. If you are going to invest in something, use it! I don't buy a car to let it sit in my garage (if I owned a garage!). And I certainly don't invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in wind turbines and point them in the opposite direction of the wind!
OK, I feel better now.
RevKev
1 comments:
There are several reasons the wind turbines may be stopped. The most common one is that it was windy. Although this seems absurd, the truth is that high winds or wind gusts can destroy a turbine and most modern wind turbines have brakes which are automatically applied when wind conditions warrant it. A common type of brake used now are tip brakes, which twist the ends of the 'arms' so that the turbine no longer catches the wind properly and stops, usually within a couple of turns.
Post a Comment