Careful With Your Wind Facts!!! And Still Sticking Our Heads In The Sand

There are a couple of facts we on the anti wind side throw around, and we need to be careful so we don't get swept up in a propaganda scheme like the wind companies.  Wiley at JLL for example referring to wind power from Galloo Is. says it would be 20% efficient.  He is confusing Capacity Factor with Efficiency of wind turbines.  When a turbine is running it might be fairly efficient at converting wind to electricity. But that is a subject for engineers, not me. I know what he is driving at and it is a good point but it's capacity factor not efficiency.

Capacity Factor is the actual output of a wind turbine or power plant ....as compared to what it could produce running at full capacity over some time frame...usually averaged over a year. 

See the explanation below from a paper on this subject of efficiency and capacity factors.

"[4]. The capacity factor is not an indicator of efficiency. A

measure of turbine efficiency is the power coefficient. This

coefficient indicates how efficiently a turbine converts the

wind energy into electricity. This coefficient varies with the

wind speed [2]. Efficiency is the expected power coefficient,

over a period of time, and is defined as ratio of the useful

output energy to the input wind energy."

On shore wind turbines have capacity in the mid 20% range or lower.  In other words averaged over a year a wind farm may only be able to produce 20% or it's potential capacity for that time.  This is what makes wind energy such a screwy environmental decision.  We know through actual real world experience going into any on land siting of wind turbines (like Cape Vincent) that nearly 80% of the capacity will not even be available.  So why should we sacrifice the 1000 Islands, our town, and Golden Crescent knowing full well ahead of time 80% of the capacity of 1000's upon 1000's of acres of invasive,  bird killing, noisy ugly, eyesore, turbines won't even be available and the other 20% will still be unreliable and wind turbines need traditional fossil fuel backup anyhow?  This is the reality our CV zoning committee is not addressing.  They are essentially saying wind turbines are OK if we just have setbacks!!!!  They don't want to address it because if they do, their entire setback scheme comes apart because setbacks are not addressing the fundamental HUGE problem with wind energy that Wiley at JLL was trying to point out with his 20% efficiency (actually capacity factor).  And it therefore does not address the larger environmental issue of our region. After all the information on both CV blogs and mine as well and from hundreds of credible sources on this basic fundamental failing of wind energy we are still sticking our head in the sand on this fundamental issue.  Did it ever occur to anybody that when we do this and justify wind if we can just get the right setbacks that we by default justify and enbale the entire wind development scheme as a viable source of power?  I am sure that is why wind developers will work with setbacks because in the end we are justifing their bullshit!!! Have any of you setback people heard the enviromental saying Think Globally, Act Locally.  The provincial setback scheme thinks locally only and not about the global failure of wind energy.  As long as we get our setbacks that don't even address the issue that wind energy is a climate and energy failure, then that is OK and we can feel good.  And unfortunately this can provide a basis for the NIMBY argument used by the pro wind side.

The other thing I often hear involves the objections to turbine noise.  Turbine noise, and especially the low frequency component that can make people too close ill, is a very valid concern, and I agree.  What I hear in the noise controversy, however, from numerous sources is that we will have too, or are living with the noise  24/7/365.

Well, I wouldn't want to live with it at all if it were me.  But here is the issue.  We can't make an argument that turbines have very low capacity factors, and claim the sound will drive us nuts 24/7/365.  Part of the problem with wind turbines is at times they are not running 24/7 at all and making very little or no noise, and this contributes directly to the low capacity factors. Ever see wind turbines sitting idle on Wolfe Is. because the wind isn't blowing...off course.... and they aren't making noise then either.

I am not trying to pad the wind company argument...just trying to keep the facts credible.