[modeleng] Semi OT windmills / generation
- From: "Jeff Dayman" <jeffdayman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:01:10 -0500
Hi Charles,
Here's a Reuters story about the big electricity generating windmill in
Pickering Ontario - I drive by it often.
The mill cost 50 million dollars CDN to build, and has a 1.5 million dollar
annual maintenance bill. The expected service life is 25 years.
It supplies 600 homes with electricity (if the wind is blowing - when it's
not blowing they use a 30kW motor to keep the blades turning and the public
happy - I'm not kidding). At this rate, with an average current Hydro bill
per home in Ontario of $200 CDN, if all the fees from the 600 homes it
serves went to pay for the windmill, it would take 34 years to pay for it.
So, someone will be paying for it 9 years after it's in the scrapyard. Also,
all the fees from these homes DON'T go toward the mill, and the maintenance
fees aren't covered either. This project is just a PR stunt by Ontario
Hydro, not a real generating solution. I think that several smaller windmill
units would be more reliable and much cheaper to build and maintain that
this gigantic thing. I figure every home in Ontario has to pay about $200
extra a year to cover the Pickering mill.
Here's the story.
CANADA: August 24, 2001
TORONTO - Ontario Power Generation was set this week to put the finishing
touches on what it claims is the tallest wind turbine in North America as it
looks to develop more "green" energy.
The turbine, with a capacity of 1.8 megawatts - or enough to power for about
600 homes - is located beside the utility's Pickering nuclear power station,
just east of Toronto.
Manufactured in Denmark, the turbine stands 117 meters (384 feet) tall, with
39-metre (128-foot) blades. It is part of a C$50 million ($33 million)
strategy by the provincially owned company to develop new sources of
renewable energy as it prepares for deregulation of the Ontario power
sector.
"We are very serious with our green energy program because we know that the
people of Ontario see it as a market that they would like to tap into," said
spokesman John Earl.
"When the market opens, people will be able to choose their kind of energy
... and we want to make sure that we have sufficient renewable energy on
hand to meet that market."
Earl said his company wants to quadruple its green energy supply by 2005,
using a mix of wind, solar, hydro-electric and biogas sources.
Ontario Power is also studying the idea of a 10 MW wind farm in the Bruce
Peninsula, on Lake Huron. One small turbine, about one-third the size of the
Pickering unit, is already operational there and the firm is in talks with
manufacturers to buy eight to 15 more, he said.
The head of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, an environmental lobby group,
said the Pickering windmill should help reduce Ontario's dependency on
coal-fired power plants.
"But because of Ontario's silly emissions trading system - allowing the
power suppliers to increase certain emissions while reducing others -
building wind turbines can lead to a net increase in pollution and make
things worse," Jack Gibbons told Reuters.
The Pickering windmill will be officially inaugurated next Wednesday and
connected to Ontario power's grid.
Story by Julie Remy
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
----- Original Message -----
From: <cbrumbelow@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 9:23 AM
Subject: [modeleng] Re: Electrical Problem
> In the southwestern part of "the big island" in Hawaii, near the usually
active volcano field, there is/was an abandoned windmill farm. The towers
are mostly in place, the big propellers may be missing none, one, or
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