The 10 Point Plan to Wind Turbine Wisdom - at Batsworthy Cross

1. Wind Turbines are Very Big

The proposed turbines at 100 metres high, and the blades at 80 metres in diameter are taller than a football pitch is long!          

In all of London, there are only 40 buildings higher than 100 metres, yet developers propose clusters of anything from 1 to 30 turbines in rural areas, close to small villages where the tallest object is likely to be the church tower or a tree (both about 20 metres).
 

2. Wind Turbine Blades Move Quickly

The blades move at approximately 15 - 20 rpm, which with a 40 metre blade means that the tip of each blade travels at a speed of over 150 mph.
 

3. Wind Turbines are Physically Gigantic but Electrically Tiny

npower claim their development will produce the energy equivalent to the consumption of 8,000 thousand homes in North Devon.

In fact, while the turbines may produce an average quantity of energy equivalent to the average consumption of that number of houses,  if the wind isn't blowing, there isn't any energy and conventional generators must always be on standby. 

Furthermore, domestic electricity is only a fraction of our CO₂ producing energy consumption.

It would be much more helpful  if developers abandoned the emotive language of "homes" and stuck to a simple statement along the lines of "The turbines would generate X MWh; this is X % of the total energy consumption of the county.” The numbers would be much less impressive, but at least it would be factual and less likely to mislead.

4. For Most of the Time Wind Turbines Produce Hardly Any Power

The wind turbine's output is determined by the available wind. Experience from Denmark shows that for approximately 75% of a year the turbines generate less than 25% of their maximum output. In theory Denmark's 2,300 MW of wind can supply 70% of instantaneous electricity demand, but in fact in 2003 there were 54 days when it produced less than 1%.

5. Denmark Exports its Wind Energy, At a Loss

In theory Denmark could generate 20% of its electrical energy from wind turbines, but in fact because the energy does not arrive predictably, roughly 80% of this is exported to its neighbours in Germany, Sweden, and Norway – at  considerable costs to Danish consumers who are forced to subsidise wind power.
 

6. The Government's Wind Energy Predictions are Unrealistic

Government plans for wind energy are based on the assumption that the wind conditions in the UK will allow turbines on average to produce around 30% of their theoretical maximum energy output (conventional generators can reach 80-90% -- and do so as and when required, not just when the wind is blowing).

However, in 2003 (the first year for which the data is regarded by Ofgem as truly reliable) wind turbines in the UK only generated about 24% of their theoretical maximum. This figure, which first appeared in the DTI's own Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics is not surprising. In Germany and Denmark results have been even more disappointing, about 16% and around 20% respectively.

The UK's wind resource is good in some locations, but the windiest locations are at great distances from the urban demand centres, requiring extensive and expensive new grid extensions to deliver the power. At present over 16,000 MW of wind (between 5,000 and 8,000 turbines) is under investigation, design or planning for grid  connection in Scotland. The connections running south amount only to 2000 MW so massive grid expansion would be needed to accommodate even  a small part of the proposed build in Scotland.
 

7. WIND POWER Vs. NUCLEAR POWER IS A NONSENSE DEBATE

Wind turbines cannot provide "firm" generation, and cannot replace conventional generators such as nuclear, gas or coal, which must be kept on standby to take up the slack when there is a low wind day, or when there is an error in the wind forecast, or sudden increases or decreases in the wind.

To suggest that wind power can substitute for nuclear is straightforwardly dishonest.  Either ageing nuclear stations will be replaced, or alternative firm sources of power (gas, oil, biomass) will be constructed.

If we really wish to find an alternative to nuclear power, or limit its deployment, in the short term we would have to look towards fossil stations modified to capture and store CO₂ emissions and firm renewables such as tidal and biomass.
 

8. Onshore Wind Power is TOO EXPENSIVE for the Consumer and TOO LUCRATIVE for the Developer

All renewable energy developments are subsidised; about 70% of their income comes from the indirect subsidy provided through the Renewables Obligation system of indirect subsidy. The system makes no distinction between technologies of differing intrinsic merits such as reliability of supply or potential for future development.  

According to the National Audit Office onshore wind power is currently over-supported by 33%, and it is every electricity consumer who pays this cost – hence the huge rush to develop wind farms.

Because of this huge over-subsidy the renewables market has focused entirely on wind – it is the cheapest available qualifying technology, regardless of whether that technology is in the best interest of the UK in the longer term.

The market's choice, wind-power, is a cheap, heavily subsidised low quality generator.

Because the Renewables Obligation is deeply flawed we are seeing a scramble for wind energy at the expense of other much more promising technologies such as biomass and tidal energy, which are both capable of "firm" generation.
 

9. Wind Turbines Don't Save Much CO₂.

The actual CO₂ saving is dependent on a wide range of factors, including available wind and the energy source replaced. For the purpose of this calculation we will accept the BWEA's highly optimistic Load Factor of 30%, and use a “grid average” emissions factor, as approved by DTI, to reflect uncertainty about which plant will be displaced On this calculation the turbine would save about 2,300 tonnes of CO2 per year, or about 260kg per hour. A Heavy Duty Vehicle travelling at 100kph emits about 125kg per hour. So the turbine saves, per hour, what is emitted by just two HDVs.

But the results could be worse. Many experts expect wind to run in partnership with gas generation in the future, which doesn’t emit much CO2, so the emissions factor is only about 0.3 tonnes per MWh. With a wind farm load factor of 30% this amounts to a saving 1,500 tonnes per year, with an average of about 180 kg per hour – slightly more than a single Heavy Duty Vehicle travelling at 100kph, which emits about 125kg per hour.

[Note that many wind developers continue to base their estimates of CO₂  savings around data that has subsequently been updated and replaced by the DTI and DEFRA]

Now think of the cost of one 2MW wind turbine's very small saving: through the Renewable Obligation subsidy system this saving will cost the consumer about £200,000 per year. This is just plain bad value for money as several analyses have shown: wind is an exceptionally expensive way to save CO₂ emissions.
 

10 . Wind Turbines Won't Save the Planet

The government expects the Renewables Obligation 2010 target (33.6 TWh) to save some 9.2 million tonnes of CO₂ per year. This has to be put in context.

The UK emits 550 million tonnes of CO₂ per year. The world emits 24,000 million tonnes. So the UK is responsible for only 2.3% of global emissions. The UK can make a significant contribution to reducing emissions by supporting cost-effective investments in the UK and other countries around the world such as:    

1. Firm renewables such as tidal.                                                                                   

2. Small scale renewables that can be integrated with domestic and light industrial energy saving programs.          

3. Pollution control in countries such as India and China where massive reductions in CO₂  emissions can be funded far more cheaply than in the UK.

Ignoring the lessons of Denmark and Germany is just repeating the mistakes of the past. 

To quote e-on Netz – the largest operators of wind farms in the world:

·     "Wind energy is only able to replace traditional power stations to a limited extent… and traditional power stations with capacities equal to 90% of the installed wind power capacity must be permanently online in order to guarantee power supply at all times."     

·     "The increased use of wind power in Germany has resulted in uncontrollable fluctuations occurring on the generation side due to the random character of wind power feed-in.  This significantly increases the demands placed on the control balancing process."        

·     "With the continued expansion of the use of wind energy in Germany, demand for standby reserve capacity will continue to rise, and will increase around fivefold by 2020."                                                               

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