Wind Power For Ft. Drum??? Really???

The new Army Wind Tank!  Maybe Gov. Cuomo as President

(and we know that is where he is going)

could force wind power down the throat of the

military with an Artilce X  law  like

 he plans to do to NNY communities!!!

A few days ago I did a post and reported  that WWNY TV was saying the Galloo Is.wind developers were try to cut a deal for Ft. Drum to by their wind power.  Today Perry White of the Watertown Daily Times has some good commentary on this issue.  You can see Mr. White's comments at the link below.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120415/BLOGS10/704159727/-1/blogs10

Here are my similar comments on Mr. White's editorial that were also put in the commment section under his editorial.

This is a good article by Perry White.  However there is one serious correction that is needed.  Mr. White says:

“And without subsidies, wind power doesn’t make sense even if the producers can throw it to the nearest connection to the grid.”

Sorry, Mr. White wind energy does not even make sense WITH subsidies.  Subsidies don’t make it reliable or make it overcome its major failings.  We have been throwing tax money at wind energy for decades and it still only provides a tiny fraction of our electric power needs. Why is that?  Because utilities and the electric market and the electric consumer  have to actually operate on energy REALITIES, not wind developer propaganda!  The Energy Information Administration says that wind energy receives a subsidy at a rate of about $24 per megawatt, and we still can’t make it work reliably.  Nuclear by comparison receives a subsidy of a bout $1.59 and runs with over a 90% capacity factor vs. wind real world experience of about 25%. 

Actually what Mr. White is talking about when he discusses if Galloo wind power could be delivered to Ft. Drum reliably is “ Capacity Credit”  This is a number grid managers like NYISO in NY or IESO in Ontario Ca. give as to what is the actual probability that when an electric power producer is called upon, it can actually reliably provide that power ON DEMAND.  Grid managers give wind about a 10% capacity credit and that is pathetic!

I wonder how it would work out if Ft. Drum’s guns, tanks, and helicopters only had a 10% probability of working when called upon in a battle! 

The latest propaganda scam I have observed by wind developers to try to get around their obviously bad production numbers is to claim their wind farm will produce power 75% or 80% of the time.  Really!!!  A large 200MW wind like Wolfe Is. could produce 1 MW of power and still say it is producing power.  This tells you nothing about actual performance, which we know from real world experience is ridiculous. So watch out for this new wind manta nonsense.

Now this wind power fantasy is exactly what Gov. Cuomo is trying to shove down the throats of NY communities with Article X that can preempt local laws when it come to siting wind power in a community.  I am glad Cuomo does not run our military.  Oh but wait… he probably will run for President at some point, and then he WILL run our military. I wonder how a tank would work on wind power?  That ought to make the terrorists happy! Glad we didn't use a wind tank to capture Bin Laden !!!

Like a quote I once heard about wind energy. “ Wind energy is the energy of the future…and always will be!!!”

Art Pundt
Cape Vincent