[Paleopsych] Wind Power Falls Under $0.01/kwh

Werbos, Dr. Paul J. paul.werbos at verizon.net
Sat Sep 18 21:43:51 UTC 2004


At 01:26 PM 9/18/2004 -0700, Steve wrote:
>1 cent may have been a bit optimistic,
>but I gather that a lot of turbines are
>being put up because they are competitive
>with gas.  Bigger units mounted higher
>are making the difference.
>
>Wind is intermittent, but fine-grained
>installations of other sources including
>gas turbines, biodiesel, and pumped storage
>can help handle the variations.

Natural gas turbines can handle anything -- and mostly do right now in the US.

But I am not saying that wind is worth zilch -- just that it's
not enough to save us from where we are presently
headed (e.g. overreliance on natural gas for openers).

>By fine-grained I mean having a number of
>relatively small units that can be brought on
>line quickly to handle the fluctuating load.
>Right now a lot of energy is wasted providing
>"spinning reserves" because the big plants
>take a long time to come up.

Depends on how they are set up. Inefficiency is a big part
of our current problems. The recent French and Italian blackouts had them 
in the
dark about one-tenth of the time we did, after the big Northeast blackout,
because we don't do spinning reserves as much or as well as they do.
The waste is not with the spinning reserves (which allow rapid switching,
at a relatively low cost if done right) but with the consequences of NOT
being able to control the big plants... and again overreliance on natural 
gas ones.

>If you have ever driven north from the airport
>in San Francisco in the afternoon you
>have driven through an area where every
>afternoon a 30mph wind blows from
>the ocean to the bay- just in time for the
>peak usage hours.
>
>Overall, I think the solution will be emergent
>rather than dictated or legislated.

I never said governments would or should do everything.
But ALL of the work has to be done by conscious folks who know what they 
are doing.
Emergence without consciousness would get us to the bottom of the swamp.


>Steve Hovland
>www.stevehovland.net
>
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