That really isn't all that much different than what we were working on 20 years ago. Just some small iterative improvements to Li Batteries. Nothing that is going to scale to anything close to power grid levels.
Wind Energy in Iowa...Your Thoughts
- Thread starter Beernuts
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That really isn't all that much different than what we were working on 20 years ago. Just some small iterative improvements to Li Batteries. Nothing that is going to scale to anything close to power grid levels.
Solar is way more cost effective than wind. I looked at both for a business I have and both wind and solar was me guessing if I could out think inflation and lifetime of equipment so I walked away from it.
I would prefer wind,oil and others went the way of ethanol. The subsidies are gone but the renewaable fuels standard keep them blending it in to make it competitive. This keeps them refining the process and improving it along the way.
I would prefer wind,oil and others went the way of ethanol. The subsidies are gone but the renewaable fuels standard keep them blending it in to make it competitive. This keeps them refining the process and improving it along the way.
A third-party maintenance contract could be anywhere from $10-50k/year/turbine, depending on the scope of work.
Many of the turbines in Iowa are producing 1.5-2.5 MW/hr at full capacity (usually need wind speed >10m/s) Average cost of electricity for consumers is $0.12/KWhr. Power purchasing agreements between wind farm owners and utilities vary from state to state and utility to utility. I would guess many of the newer contracts are around $0.04/KWhr. On a good wind day, wind farm owners are making about $2k/turbine.
I'm not sure on total costs of shipping, construction, large-corrective repairs etc. Would have to think there is a massive savings per turbine when you build 100 turbines vs 1 turbine. Ive always been told the goal is to make money back after 10 years.
On that tangent...
One of the new parts of my neighborhood was developed in conjunction with a mini "Smart Grid" type application that has a solar field nearby. The houses are also highly energy efficient (2x6 construction, high SEER heat pumps, well-sealed for tightness, heat pump water heater, etc). The idea is that the people buying the houses give the electrical utility the right to determine how they get powered for the next however many years. They've done some interesting things with cycling power from main grid to gas generator to solar to battery backup to see the effects and help plan out how they want to do things in the future.
I'm partially jealous that when a storm knocks power out, they stay on. But that's more on the power company maintaining their right-of-way.
We've been subsidizing farmers for decades and we just paid out more subsidies to farmers to offset negative impacts from tariffs we willingly put in place.
In fact, find pretty much any industry and the government has probably subsidized it one way or another. So yeah some subsidies suck and are stupid.
Subsidizing new renewable energy sources have a very positive effect for the country. Higher tech job in the renewable energy field that replace lost manufacturing jobs is a good thing. Not to mention more energy independence.
As people have mentioned, there have been some vast improvement in renewable energy efficiency that would have taken decades without some subsidized help.
I posted this link in another thread but it is interesting to see how the development of renewable energy has grown because of the subsidies.
http://rameznaam.com/2019/04/02/the-third-phase-of-clean-energy-will-be-the-most-disruptive-yet/
Not many really like government spending in the private sector (me included) but sometimes it can be used correctly to "prime the pump".
In fact, find pretty much any industry and the government has probably subsidized it one way or another. So yeah some subsidies suck and are stupid.
Subsidizing new renewable energy sources have a very positive effect for the country. Higher tech job in the renewable energy field that replace lost manufacturing jobs is a good thing. Not to mention more energy independence.
As people have mentioned, there have been some vast improvement in renewable energy efficiency that would have taken decades without some subsidized help.
I posted this link in another thread but it is interesting to see how the development of renewable energy has grown because of the subsidies.
http://rameznaam.com/2019/04/02/the-third-phase-of-clean-energy-will-be-the-most-disruptive-yet/
Not many really like government spending in the private sector (me included) but sometimes it can be used correctly to "prime the pump".
When I asked the question, I used the wrong word...hoax...my mistake.
What I meant to ask was if you think the industry is a positive or negative to our society.
One item that I haven't seen discussed is the disturbance to the farmland, and the changes the wind structures, electrical lines, service roads, substations etc do to our soil.
What I meant to ask was if you think the industry is a positive or negative to our society.
One item that I haven't seen discussed is the disturbance to the farmland, and the changes the wind structures, electrical lines, service roads, substations etc do to our soil.
Thorium would seem to me the path to our energy future. Relatively clean nuclear and very, very cheap. The big pushback is proliferation and inability to control who is making the stuff.
Crowing about the subsidies that wind energy products is a waste of time. Let's ditch all subsidies for gas, oil, nuclear, etc. Then we can truly see how expensive energy actually is without government support.
As far as the eyesore comments, I think it all depends on how you view renewables. I live right by a wind farm and often see those red blinking lights at night as I'm driving home from work. Doesn't bother me one bit. During the day all those turbines moving as one is an impressive sight to see. I'd much rather be looking at dozens of turbines than pillars of smoke from a coal plant.
As far as the eyesore comments, I think it all depends on how you view renewables. I live right by a wind farm and often see those red blinking lights at night as I'm driving home from work. Doesn't bother me one bit. During the day all those turbines moving as one is an impressive sight to see. I'd much rather be looking at dozens of turbines than pillars of smoke from a coal plant.
The sound would drive me crazy. Friends who live about 1 1/2 miles away always have a sound whooshing from them. Even at that distance.
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I wonder if it depends on the prevailing wind direction. I live about a mile from ours and cannot hear it from inside or outside of the house. Maybe it if it was pointed out to me, I might be able to hear it, but it's clearly not enough to bother me.
I do feel bad for the people living right around them on some level, though. I imagine the money is probably nice, as you'd have to give up portions of your land to have them built on, but for those of us that live close by instead of under them, it doesn't seem like much of a nuisance.
After being around a wind farm project this past year I can tell you there is a lot more that does into it than at first glance. You have to move soil to put these up. You have to build road after road after road to get them to the site. You have to rebuild county roads to get them to site. You have to build more roads to drive the cranes down. You have to have paths for the cranes helpers to go down. There is another path the lines are buried in. The best part of this all that exposed soil has washed like crazy the past year and it wont be right for years to come if ever. There is cement that has to manufactured and hauled to site. There is rock that is mined, put on trains, unloaded, put on trucks and taken to the site. There are turbine parts that are made in China, hauled to a port there, put on ships, boated to the West Coast, put on trains, unloaded in DSM, put on trucks, and hauled to the site. There is no little environmental footprint to putting these up. To top that off the crews working on them seem to have no regard for others property or the environment. Someone must be making major money putting these up because there seems to be no shortage of cash being spent.
I would not want one in my back anywhere close to my house. Having them 5 miles away is bad enough and all I have to do is look at them, not live in there shadows or listen to them run.
Which wind farm do you live near, if you don't mind me asking. Every construction site I have been on has 3rd party environmental staff on site to mitigate as much damage as possible.
So moving soil for millions of feet of tile lines is ok, but the second you put in a 100x100 foot pad of concrete, it's not?
Edit: Never mind the 16th of an inch of topsoil we erode every single year.
Edit: Never mind the 16th of an inch of topsoil we erode every single year.
I suggest you go back and read the existing posts, because there has been at least some substantive discussion. If you're actually looking for it. I'm skeptical. You don't start out asking if something is a "hoax" looking for a real discussion.
My bet is that it's a net positive, based on generating some energy in a renewable way as well as the investments into technology which will further our ability to head towards more renewable energy in the future. Does this mean we should stick with wind energy forever? Not necessarily. It doesn't have to be perfect to be good, and if it isn't perfect, that doesn't mean it's bad. EMBRACE NUANCE.
I don't even understand how this happens:
Looks to me like a very windy day. At high winds/rotational velocity, the tips of the blades start to flex backward. That GIF looks like blades bent backward far enough to come in contact with the tower. You see the one blade start to come apart right after it goes by the tower. Then you see a small "explosion" about 2/3 way up the tower, right where the blades cross it.
I think the threshold is typically something like 30mph winds, max. That's why on crazy windy days, the turbines aren't rotating. They put them in "wind vane mode" which means the blades are turned 90 degrees so they don't resist the wind and then the top of the tower is free-turning so it matches whatever direction the wind is coming from.
