- #1
boreilly
- 11
- 0
I came across a report entitled "Wind Farms Provide Negligible Useful Electricity" by Richard Courtney. You can google it its just available free on the internet.
What I wanted to know, if anyone here works in the power grid industry, was it true or should it be taken with a pinch of salt?
It discusses the fact that during a high amount of wind the other thermal power plants are not turned off but put in spinning standby,(well the entire power plant is not put in spinning stanby), to allow them to kick back into action as soon as wind drops. And during this spinning standby, energy from whatever fossil fuel is being used is just being wasted(for example the water is still being heated but allowed to cool in the cooling towers instead of doing work).
I knew that in power plants it can take a few days for it to start up and i knew that it takes a lot to ramp the power plant up and down to meet the demands when running. However this report suggests that wind power is in actual fact a waste of time.
How close to the truth is this report? does anyone work in this line of work? is it really this big an issue dealing with the wind changing quickly? or is it a problem that we are able to overcome?
What I wanted to know, if anyone here works in the power grid industry, was it true or should it be taken with a pinch of salt?
It discusses the fact that during a high amount of wind the other thermal power plants are not turned off but put in spinning standby,(well the entire power plant is not put in spinning stanby), to allow them to kick back into action as soon as wind drops. And during this spinning standby, energy from whatever fossil fuel is being used is just being wasted(for example the water is still being heated but allowed to cool in the cooling towers instead of doing work).
I knew that in power plants it can take a few days for it to start up and i knew that it takes a lot to ramp the power plant up and down to meet the demands when running. However this report suggests that wind power is in actual fact a waste of time.
How close to the truth is this report? does anyone work in this line of work? is it really this big an issue dealing with the wind changing quickly? or is it a problem that we are able to overcome?