High temperatures, NO wind leave Iowa windmills useless

[dbackjon]

Friend of mine manages a regional utility in Iowa - 10% of their total capacity comes from wind, rest from Natural Gas.

Record heat, no wind for the last two weeks.

So when they needed the total capacity the most, wind has been no help. They are paying for capacity that can't produce any power.

[Vincardog]

1. Every time I drive past a wind farm at least a few of them are spinning. I think they are

well worth the investment. If they weren't why would they be building so many more very rear?
There are hundreds of new ones going up this year again.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Another reason for solar to accompany them.

Thank you for bringing up this need.

[dbackjon]

3. So then you need to invest in three different energy sources

[Arctic Dave]

5. Diversity would seem logical in the long run.

I would try to expand even more.

[dbackjon]

6. If you can spread the costs

But you are looking at a triple investment, when you can just build one natural gas plant.

[Arctic Dave]

8. NG runs out eventually and the cost goes up.

Best to get on with the inevitable.

[Champion Jack]

16. NG extraction is unsustainable and dangerous

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Agreed

[NickB79]

4. Predicted almost 3 years ago: Not so windy: Research suggests winds dying down

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-06-10-wind_N.htm

WASHINGTON — The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming — the very problem wind power seeks to address.

The idea that winds may be slowing is still a speculative one, and scientists disagree whether that is happening. But a first-of-its-kind study suggests that average and peak wind speeds have been noticeably slowing since 1973, especially in the Midwest and the East.

"It's a very large effect," said study co-author Eugene Takle, a professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University. In some places in the Midwest, the trend shows a 10% drop or more over a decade. That adds up when the average wind speed in the region is about 10 to 12 miles per hour.

There's been a jump in the number of low or no wind days in the Midwest, said the study's lead author, Sara Pryor, an atmospheric scientist at Indiana University.

Just anecdotal evidence on my part, but ever since I got into target shooting 20 years ago I've noticed there seem to be far more ideal shooting days (ie, little to no wind) than there used to be.

[pscot]

9. Interesting link

From deeper in the article:

It also makes sense based on how weather and climate work, Takle said. In global warming, the poles warm more and faster than the rest of the globe, and temperature records, especially in the Arctic, show this. That means the temperature difference between the poles and the equator shrinks and with it the difference in air pressure in the two regions. Differences in barometric pressure are a main driver in strong winds. Lower pressure difference means less wind.

[NickB79]

10. What's funny is that this effect is mentioned in "Under A Green Sky" which was published in 2007

Two years before this research was published.

In it, the author wrote about what the Permian was like in the midst of it's mass extinction. Since he speculated it was due to runaway global warming, he felt it would have been hot, dry, and with very little wind on land. The sky would have a green tint from all the methane in the atmosphere, and parts of the oceans acidic and covered in massive green algae blooms (so-called Canfield oceans). Close to the shoreline, hydrogen cyanide gases from the rotting algae would poison anything that got too close to the water's edge.

It sounds like hell, and by all accounts we're heading that way at warp speed.

[joshcryer]

15. Yeah, we were posting about it on E&E years ago.

Here's an older post of mine where I pointed out this issue: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=269125&mesg_id=269125

I don't think any of us could've predicted how fast we're going downhill though.

[longship]

7. And the corn inedible. nt

.

[madokie]

12. Of course there will be times of no wind

When the wind does blow though we get pretty much free electric.. To me that is enough to continue to build the wind farms. After all the wind does blow most times.

[Tashca]

13. Looked fine to me.

I drove through North Central Iowa today. All the wind farms I saw looked to be functioning fine to me.

[emmadoggy]

14. I agree. The area around my hometown in north east/central Iowa is covered with windmills

and even on quiet days, at least some of them are spinning. I don't think I've ever seen them all at a standstill. Obviously, on those days the output is less, but I highly doubt it is ever at or near zero.