elektra
Diamond Member
Wind Energy, too little too late or too much. This is a nice article explaining the problems with building more wind turbines. They are expensive, land intensive, intermittent, etc..
Thank God Trump is putting an end to this madness. The great part of this, as long as Germany continues their quest to be Green, German Industry will be moving to the USA.
wattsupwiththat.com
The fundamental problem, according to Prof. Kobe, lies in the nature of weather-dependent energy. Wind power does not scale linearly in a way that guarantees supply. During a lull, when there is no wind, it doesn’t matter if you have 30,000 or 60,000 turbines. The output remains zero. Doubling the capacity does nothing to solve the problem of “Dunkelflaute” (dark doldrums).
Conversely, under windy weather, the existing turbines often produce much more electricity than the grid can handle. Adding even more turbines during these periods only increases the surplus that cannot be used, leading to forced shutdowns.
Building “useless” capacity
Kobe argues that Germany is rapidly approaching a “saturation point.” Data shows that while the installed capacity (the theoretical maximum) of wind power has grown significantly, the actual amount of electricity fed into the grid hasn’t kept pace.
We are essentially building “useless” capacity that only produces power when we already have too much of it, while failing to provide any power when we actually need it.
Thank God Trump is putting an end to this madness. The great part of this, as long as Germany continues their quest to be Green, German Industry will be moving to the USA.
The Wind Energy Paradox: “Why More Wind Turbines Don’t Always Mean More Power”
The Munich-based daily Merkur is finally reporting on something that us skeptics have been pointing out some 20 years: Wind turbines always either produce too little or too much, and are thus uneco…
wattsupwiththat.com
Conversely, under windy weather, the existing turbines often produce much more electricity than the grid can handle. Adding even more turbines during these periods only increases the surplus that cannot be used, leading to forced shutdowns.
Building “useless” capacity
Kobe argues that Germany is rapidly approaching a “saturation point.” Data shows that while the installed capacity (the theoretical maximum) of wind power has grown significantly, the actual amount of electricity fed into the grid hasn’t kept pace.
We are essentially building “useless” capacity that only produces power when we already have too much of it, while failing to provide any power when we actually need it.
