Comments on: Wind Turbines Off the North Carolina Coast Could Supply State with 100% of Its Power

By: hannah

hannah — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:02:00 +0000

How many windmills are there currently (in use) in North Carolina?

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:15:00 +0000

It’s hard to make a specific prediction, but putting a lot of wind generation on the grid has decreased the cost of electricity in places like Texas and Spain.

Because wind doesn’t have a fuel cost it can sell for almost nothing and still make money. If the wind is blowing hard and demand isn’t very high that causes other more expensive suppliers to either sell at a loss or shut down. You might want to read about ‘merit order pricing’ to understand how this works.

Solar is starting to have the same effect on electricity costs. Right now Germany has enough solar on their grid that during the middle of sunny days their price of electricity drops very low, to the lowest they ever experience. Apparently the same thing is starting to happen in Southern California.

By: Felicia Phillips

Felicia Phillips — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Using this as a reference for a paper for school. Great information! Especially after I just read about how the coal ash ponds are affecting my water here in NC. I am happy to hear of all of this change and hope to see it while I still live here. How do you think that will affect the residents paying electric bills? You think costs will rise or go down?

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:54:00 +0000

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Boy, you really do want to make sure the blades are securely parked before making your approach from that direction don’t you?

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:40:00 +0000

http://c1cleantechnicacom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2011/11/SCOTTISH-WINDFARM.jpg

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:50:00 +0000

I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.

The cost of wind generated electricity is based on the actual electricity generated, not the nameplate capacity of the turbines.

No electricity generation technology is “always on”.

Furthermore, wind is one of our cheapest sources of new energy. Only natural gas is cheaper and that is almost certainly a temporary situation.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:47:00 +0000

How do you secure the Volvos that fly around in 120mph wind?

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:46:00 +0000

That’s automated.

We now seeing a system called lidar (LIght Detection And Ranging) being used to look ahead to see changes in wind speed before they get to the turbine and blade pitch is adjusted before the change arrives.

That allows turbines to minimize the stress caused by sudden increases in wind speed and to take advantage of new wind.

As for maintenance, some offshore turbines are being built without drive trains/gears. That’s the part of turbines which requires the most maintenance.

As we build offshore wind farms in the US we’ll have to build special ships which can service those turbines. (This is part of the reason offshore wind will need subsidies while onshore wind is about past the need of government support.)

Currently under development is a turbine so large that it has a helicopter pad on top. Maintenance crews can be flown directly to the turbine.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:38:00 +0000

About like oil rigs that get hit by a hurricane.

A direct hit by a really big storm is going to take some out. That’s built into the cost of doing business.

By: Blackbettty

Blackbettty — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Although, (at least the ones I’ve been around) they need to be re-torqued and calibrated with wind speeds change, Wonder how efficient it would be to do this maintenance at sea. Hopefully someone has innovated them to be self adjusting or something like that.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:11:00 +0000

There have been studies on that. They can be made to hold up really well.

By: EnglebertFlaptyback

EnglebertFlaptyback — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:22:00 +0000

What I wanna know is…how will the turbines stand up to a hurricane?

By: carl eklund

carl eklund — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:44:41 +0000

I was just in Sweden this past summer. In my old home town Karlstad they are going to put in 250 wind turbins on and off shore.

By: carl eklund

carl eklund — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:44:00 +0000

I was just in Sweden this past summer. In my old home town Karlstad they are going to put in 250 wind turbins on and off shore.

By: Briarwood B.

Briarwood B. — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:59:29 +0000

I love this stuff! The lights are on and we’re not exporting any money nor are we pumping poisons into our air. I am frightened by the prospect of a 230 foot propeller landing on someone’s house during a hurricane. I love wind, solar, geothermal, but just how secore are those propellers during 120 mph winds?

By: Briarwood B.

Briarwood B. — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:59:00 +0000

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:34:53 +0000

Thanks for the additional info. Apparently, the off-shore wind potential for North Carolina is well above 100% of its electricity needs. They will do a pilot project with a few turbines, so we will see what they think is possible after that.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:34:00 +0000

By: manny

manny — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:38:00 +0000

Great article

Surveys have proved that no wind farm can produce 100% of its maximum power output – the realistic operation output is about 50%. Many wind farms fall well below that. The norm for onshore wind farms is 25% – 30%. That represents a very low output added to the high cost of wind generation