By Jack Dini ——Bio and Archives--February 19, 2023
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New research studying almost 3,000 wind turbines suggests wind turbines erected in Britain will only last half of their claimed lifespan.Results reveal that onshore and offshore wind turbines degrade differently. For onshore, the monthly load factor or the amount of electricity generated as a percentage of nameplate capacity, drops from an already low 24 percent in the first year to a meager 11 percent after 15 years. Offshore wind, meanwhile, declines more drastically from 40 percent in year one to 15 percent after ten years. This should not be surprising, as saltwater is an incredibly hostile environment. (1)
Bloomberg Business Week reported 'wind turbines taller than the statue of liberty are falling over.' The instances are part of a rash of recent wind turbine malfunctions across the US and Europe ranging from failures of key component to full collapses. (2)
The Bloomberg article blames the rash of incidents on the rush to install turbine capacity, but there are also permanent factors that make engineering, building, and maintaining wind farms difficult and risky.
To develop meaningful amounts of power, the blades on the turbine have to be big, and when big blades spin in heavy winds, the tips can end up hitting supersonic speeds, putting great stress on the materials used to construct them. Big blades also require tall towers which are then subject to stresses as winds blow and can gust during storms to velocities that test the strength of the materials and the design of the towers. (2)
Over the last weekend in December, the US declared a grid emergency in Texas, as temperatures plummeted causing power plants to fail. The order allows the state's grid operator to exceed certain air pollution limits to boost generation amid record power demand in the state. (3)
In the middle of a bitter, frigid northern hemisphere winter, wind and solar output in Europe have been utterly pathetic, not withstanding claims that we're well on our was to an all wind and sun powered future. (4)
Texans and Germans know all about this problem. Now others are getting a taste of it.
Alberta wind and solar produced 76 megawatts out of a theoretical 3,005 megawatts at noon on New Year's Eve, with cold warnings all over the province.
Ontario's government determined to eliminate coal fired power in the deluded belief that wind power would soon replace it. The result has been an unmitigated economic disaster. Power prices in the Province have spiraled out of control (71% increase in power bills) as a direct result of its suicidal energy policy. Thousands of jobs have been destroyed, never to return. (5)
Coloradans might want to begin brushing up on their German. At least enough to be familiar with the word Dunkelflaute, which roughly translates to 'dark doldrums.' The term describes a weather pattern of low wind and limited sunlight that makes generating electricity from renewables nearly impossible. The event is common in Europe, hence the German name.
In Colorado between December 30 and January 2, its wind fleet went from producing 2,000 MWh of electricity down to the negatives on multiple occasions. Solar generation similarly flatlined on January 2 when overcast skies arrived in the state. (6)
It was reliable fossil fuels that allowed the lights to stay on in Wyoming and Kansas as wind generated electricity dropped by 75 percent when it was needed the most. (7)
Scotland's green obsessed government has been left with egg on its face by revelations that dozens of gigantic onshore wind turbines are having to be hooked up to diesel generators to keep them from freezing. How many? Some 71 had to be hooked up to diesel generators to keep them warm in December. (8)
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The ongoing energy crisis has shown how folks will experience growing pains from a switch to renewable sources of energy including wind power. (9)
Subsidies for British renewable energy have cost the British public 78 billion pounds in the last ten years. This equates to about 3,000 pounds per household. (10)
Nations have spent hundreds of billions of dollars hoping to replace coal and natural gas to no avail. Australians and Germans have suffered from the government's decisions the most. They now have sky-high energy costs and frequent blackouts.. Both are returning to coal with as little fanfare as possible. (11)
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Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology. He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.