Just a little something to irritate you from our friends at NCPA.
Every time I drive to work at Fort Hood I get to review a new wind farm with 100 turbines.
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23948&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
Just a little info on Wind.
Dept of Energy has a map of the country that shows our part of Texas is not good for wind.
In fact the mountains, the coasts are the best for wind. In Texas only the coast and the panhandle are adequate. Midwest America is not good for wind.
One must consider that even when wind is good, its intermittent so the efficiency output of wind tubines is well under 50 percent of rated capacity.
When you read about a wind farm having a output for whatever, remember that’s not real output, that’s what they might put out if the ideal wind was 24/7.
Usually they are a third of capacity, for each turbine 2 or 3 Megawatts is the rated capacity, the actual is about a third with gas/coal backup or alternative to pick up the slack. Really smart–engineers tell me that gas and coal effeciciencies are lost with off and on demand.
yessiree, the money makes it happen. Texas was the exemplar for soaking the program of subsidies–I am chagrined, embarassed or shamed since whatever gains made are at the expense of fossil fuel or nuclear development, either one would be better than the bird beaters.
The wind subsidies are similar to the PV solar subsidies. Huge money in infrastructure that can be siphoned off nicely with the ultimate use of tax rebates and bankruptcy in this crony capitalism “green energy” fantasy.
There is a good reason that the industry moved slowly before the massive cash injection. It is marginal at best, but provides large scale R&D and development opportunity. This perversion of capitalism is just a shame that we’ll be paying huge increases in electricity rates.