http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 30, 2009
From "Confessions of energy legends: wind power technically, economically inefficient -- can't really replace natural gas in electricity sector" by Tom Stacy, reporting on a "town meeting" in Ohio:

When asked what electricity generation fuel they envisioned for load balancing once the NG has been diverted to the transportation sector (a pillar of the Pickens Plan), Boone responded: "I don't want to replace natural gas with wind ... I would say that you use natural gas for power generation and a transportation fuel ... natural gas will last for 20 to 65 years. Then you're going to have to get on the battery." Not a positive word for wind.

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/31277

By Bernie Woodall and Eileen O'Grady

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The United States faces an electricity crisis if it eschews coal-fired power plants on its way to a low-carbon economy, said the chief executive of American Electric Power, one of the nation's biggest utilities.

Michael Morris of AEP said that he fears the United States will rely on natural gas plants too heavily if it drastically cuts burning coal to make electricity.

This happened way back in February, and I'm surprised it wasn't reported here. Apparently, according to this Reuters Article, ERCOT, Texas' grid agency reported a Level 2 Emergency when low winds (production dropped from 1700Mw to 300Mw) + low temperatures (higher energy usage) combined. Emergency management of power was necessary to get past this 3 hour window of power fluctuation.

Just how tax payments from a windfarm development in Prattsburgh should be divided was argued last week before state Supreme Court Judge Peter Bradstreet.

No decision was made in a lawsuit filed by the Prattsburgh and Naples school districts against a payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement approved by the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency (SCIDA) in January. Bradstreet’s office said there is no timetable on when a ruling will be made.

From the Executive Summary of the report
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/subsidy2/pdf/execsum.pdf, pdf page 6 of 8. That page includes a table of subsidies paid per mwh of generation. A quick summary (subset) below:

Coal is paid $.44 per mwh
Nat. Gas: $.25 per mwh
Biomass: $.89 per mwh
Nuclear: $1.59 per mwh
Hydro: $.67 per mwh
Solar: $24.34 per mwh
Landfill gas: $1.37 per mwh
Wind: $23.37 per mwh

Many people have been commenting lately on the wind farm along the lakeshore in Lackawanna. But it's not because the giant windmills are spinning in the breeze.

In fact, the windmills have been practically idle for many weeks. The wind farm, called "Steel Winds" is on the former Bethlehem Steel site. At full capacity, it's supposed to generate enough power for 6,000 homes.

We asked the manufacturer, Clipper Windpower, what's happening with the eight wind turbines, and why they're not working. It seems there's a problem with the gear boxes and all of them will have to be replaced.

It’s one of the most visible sights in Madison County; one of the blades on the Fenner Wind Turbines broke in mid-November, and is still not fixed.

A representative for General Electric, who built the huge turbines, says the weather has been too snowy, too cold, and too windy to get up and fix the blade. As soon as they get a stretch of more-mild weather, they say they'll be up there as soon as possible to make the fix.

Unless Washburn is talking about mounting wind turbines on automobiles she's obviously very misinformed...

"Wind power plays a key role in New York's clean energy future. From an environmental perspective, it's a safe source of energy that reduces our dependence on polluting fossil fuels and foreign oil," said Larisa Washburn, program associate of Environmental Advocates of New York. "This stud

Does anyone know about the Hull Light Dept's Turbine? Didn't that turbine actually SAVE the taxpayers, up front, money, since it produced energy directly for their streetlights? Where does the taxpayer/electricity consumer save any money in any other "turbine farm". Aren't we taxpayers/consumers being "double-dipped?????) Again, turbines suck our funds and give us VERY little in return.

Ohio leaders propose a windy addition to the Lake Erie horizon - massive wind turbines that would crank out megawatts and spin off research, development and jobs.

An energy task force will recommend to Cuyahoga County commissioners next month that the region pursue a demonstration project of four to 10 turbines, spinning at least three miles out on Lake Erie.

It would be an unprecedented venture - while European countries have water-borne windmills, the United States has none, task force officials said. And there are no freshwater wind turbines in the world, they said.