[Orcnet] Wind power and gas turbines

[Tim Wescott]

My sense of many of the alternative energy efforts that are currently 
underway is that they are either self-delusion, a way to export the 
fundamental problems to someone far, far away from the promoter (think 
electric cars in LA, and coal smog in the Utah desert), or are cynical 
attempts to make money.

Like the hydrogen car fad that swept the nation a few years ago, where 
the problem of where to _get_ the hydrogen was largely ignored -- and 
the most energy efficient way to generate H2 is to burn more BTUs in 
natural gas than you'll ever get out of the H2.

I think that folks are just desperately trying to avoid admitting to 
themselves that we're in a bind, we've eaten the seed corn, and we all 
need to have fewer kids and use fewer joules.  In the meantime we vote 
for politicians who will pour huge amounts of public resources (and 
energy reserves) into questionable ventures like wind power.  Couple 
that with a public that's seen too many Jane Fonda movies so we can't go 
nuclear (assuming there's enough Uranium in the world for _that_), and 
you have an energy sector that's chasing windmills.

Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> I was reading somewhere that many utilities are accomodating
> unpredictable wind power output with standby natural gas turbine 
> generators to fill in when the wind isn't blowing.  Coal and
> nuclear power don't turn on as fast as wind can appear and
> disappear, while smaller gas turbines can come up to speed
> in less than a minute.
>
> This is allegedly the case in Europe.  Spain and Germany are
> building gas turbine plants to match the power levels of the
> extensive windmill farms they are building, and building new
> gas pipes to Gazprom in Russia.  T. Boone Pickens is promoting
> windmills - and also makes billions selling natural gas.
>
> I don't know how much this is the case for the windmills here in
> Oregon.  I suspect the Bradwood Landing gas terminal is partly
> an accomodation to wind power.  As I understand it, the hydro
> dams can accomodate some of the difference, but the dams on the
> Columbia are mostly "running river" dams, with computer models
> driving water releases from reservoirs in Canada days before
> the bolus runs through the lower Columbia dams.  Hydro helps
> power providers accomodate predictable usage variation, but
> perhaps not erratic changes in the wind.  Maybe someone can
> enlighten me about actual practice. 
>
> Windmills might make a lot more sense with a globally-connected 
> international power grid smoothing out regional variations.
> Perhaps someday we will figure out how to do that, politically
> and technically.  Until then, some of the windmill projects may
> be expensive showpieces, touted by gas suppliers and distracting
> us from more practical conservation and load shifting projects.
>
> Keith
>
>   


-- 
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
Voice: 503-631-7815
Cell:  503-349-8432
http://www.wescottdesign.com