By Lance Winslow
Back in the good ole' days when the government was giving away tax credits for those who invested in wind turbine generators, those generators were relatively small and although killing birds due to the speed of the blades, they had little if any real change to the environment. Today, that's not the case, as these wind generators are getting higher and higher in the sky.
The composite blades are also getting bigger and bigger and believe it or not they cause a bit of turbulence. Really, no one should be surprised by this and one giant wind generator by itself is not too big of a deal for neighboring crops. But for wind turbines to really make sense they are going to have to be clustered in big numbers (wind fields) so they can hook into large nearby transmission lines. By clustering them closely they can enjoy the economies of scale needed to make sense (when the wind is blowing that is).
But, now we have a huge new problem and one that really wasn't even a consideration in the good ole' days of wind generation in the US, that is one of severe turbulence. This can play havoc on crops, which will also compete for space. Theoretically, it would be nice to have crops down below and wind turbines in the sky, but apparently they may be completely incompatible. Maybe we ought to start getting real on the issues of wind generators before we go hog wild and spend huge amounts of taxpayer's monies in subsidies only to find out later it was a ill-conceived plan and simply not viable.
I challenge the industry to come clean on wind power, because in the end it just may not be green at all. Think on this.
Reference Articles of Value:
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Answers_To_Huge_Wind_Farm_Problems_Are_Blowin_In_The_Wind_999.html
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By Lance Winslow
Like most intelligent and important people you are thinling that the key to the power industry is generation economies of scale. Although it is counterintuitive, the key is the effectiveness of the whole power system.
Wind turbulence will just limit the size of wind farms. That is fine.
In the EWPC article Uncertain Generation is Here to Stay (please hit the link http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/index.cfm/2008/2/1... ) you can read more about it.
The article speaks of turbulence primarily as an impediment to overall efficiency in wind farms solvable through proper planning and engineering. It discusses impact on nearby soil as both secondary and readily mitigated through a combination of proposed measures. Think on this.
The real problem of turbulence is associated with the size of wind farms. A proper design is limited to stay within the green space. That makes gree wind output limited. I think that is fine. That is part of a supply side approach. My article goes to add a demand side approach.
On the other end of the spectrum there is rooftop wind sites. This is my message for those http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21881/?a=f#...
Between large wind farms limited by turbulence and rooftop wind sites there is a large opportunity to develop green wind energy.
While some aspects of EWPC are attractive, overall I have serious reservations about EWPC. I agee that over regulation and artificial price controls often back fire against their intended purposes for reasons you have expounded on at great length. However, it is well demonstrated that without some degree of effective regulation to moderate it, markets are be subject to wild and very destructive swings. When it comes to infrastructure that is so critical to our security and economic well being, I believe a great deal of caution is warranted. IMO the trick is finding the balance of just enough regulation to keep markets healthy without stifling them.
If we are to err, I believe that losing some market efficiency in favor of long term reliability and security is the favorable side to err on. In the past 50 years we haven't done a very good job of that and the results show in an overburdened energy infrastructure. Selective reduction of price controls is powerful tool towards driving the large investments that are needed to modernize our energy industry.
Jeffrey Anthony, American Wind Energy Association
http://www.awea.org/faq/wwt_environment.html#What%20are%20wind%20powers%20other%20environmental%20impacts
EWPC has effective market regulation balance. It has regulation on the transportation only utility and on system planning and operation. There is no need to err and "losing some market efficiency in favor of long term reliability and security," as you say, since EWPC is designed to satisfy both long term system adequacy and short term system security. Instead of price control regulation, EWPC has prudential regulations.
I will add that EWPC increases efficiency by eliminating the value destruction of price controls. In the EWPC article "Rethinking Electricity Restructuring as EWPC (http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/index.cfm/2007/10/... )," you can see that "Strong EWPC market architecture and design recommendations to restructure worldwide electricity markets, superseed those proposed in 2004 by Peter Van Doren and Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute by resolving the "previously unknown" problems created by a flawed deregulation. Those recommendations are developed to support slicing the last of the regulated monopolies with a strong sense of urgency."