WIND TECHNOLOGY IS

OVERBLOWN
“The first great requisite of
motive power is that it shall be
wholly at our command, to be
exerted when, and where, and in
what degree we desire. The wind,
for instance, as a direct motive
power, is wholly inapplicable to a
system of machine labour, for
during a calm season the whole
business of the country would be
thrown out of gear.”
William S. Jevons, 1865
THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE
OF…
 Facts of Life for Wind Energy
•Electricity must be used immediately; it can’t
be stored at industrial scales

•Supply must match demand precisely

•Wind Capacity Factors Are Low and Statistical

•Wind Energy is Highly Variable

•Wind Energy Not Controllable or Dispatchable

•Wind Flux Destabilizes Grid

•Wind Energy is Inimical to Demand Cycles

•Wind Produces Energy, Not Capacity (it cannot

power any homes)
240 MW Maple Ridge, New York Wind Project--July-September 2006. Wind
Capacity Factor: 25% Courtesy: Eric Rosenbloom, NWW
 O n ta rio IE S O H o u rly W in d G e n e ra tio n
R e p o rt fo r M a rc h 7 , 2 0 0 9 (w ith 8 8 7 M W o f
In s ta lle d W in d )

1000
800
600 L in e 1
MW

400 L in e 2
200
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
H o u rs
Ontario skitter detail
 In reviewing Germany’s extensive wind plants, E.ON Netz, the
nation’s largest grid operator, showed:

• At no point in 2003 did wind energy exceed 80% of its rated

capacity
• For more than half the days in 2004, the total wind plant output to
the grid was lower than 11% of its rated capacity
• Sizable weather forecasting errors: On 6250 MW of installed
capacity, the average errors ranged from -370 MW to +477 MW; for
individual hours, the error was as large as +/-2900 MW

These results have been echoed both in Britain and the United
States. Weather forecasting for wind makes astrology look
respectable.
 SUPPLYING ELECTRICIY SUPPLY IS LIKE
REPLENISHING A LEAKING TUB OF WATER

• The real work is done by

reliable, responsive
machines that pump just the
right amount of water in and
out at the right time.

• Whimsical wind can add only

an occasional few drops,
which can’t keep pace with
demand increases.
WIND FLUX HAS THERMAL COSTS

• Wind skitters
unpredictably on and
off the grid, like
sandpipers at the
beach. Each skitter
produces a thermal
reaction as the grid
seeks to balance it.
WIND CAN ONLY BE AN OCCASSIONAL
FUEL SUPPLEMENT

BUT IT REQUIRES A LOT OF

SUPPLEMENTATION…

 COMPENSATORY
CONVENTIONAL GENERATON

 INCREASED FREQUENCY
CONTROL

 ADDITIONAL, OFTEN
DEDICATED, TRANSMISSION
LINES
INFINITE REGRESSION
The more wind installed
on the grid…

…the more
conventional generation
that must be added—at
90% of the rated wind
capacity.
Any measurement of carbon offsets due to wind technology must
account for:
• The uncertainty about what power sources wind energy would
replace or avoid from minute to minute (it must be rapidly
responsive units);
• The operational inefficiencies inherent in switching conventional
power sources off and on to accommodate wind’s continuously
changing energy;
• Frequency controls and transmission constraints necessary for
bringing the wind energy across long distances; and
• Emissions created in the construction and operation of the wind
facilities.
 Be Careful What You Wish
For…
Internal Combustion Engine

 20% Capacity Factor

 99.99% Capacity Value

The Windmobile

 26% Capacity Factor

 0 Capacity Value
WIND CANNOT REPLACE CONVENTIONAL
POWER

Mathematically, more than 3000 wind turbines, each rated at

2.0MW, would be needed to equal the energy from one 1600MW
coal or nuclear plant. But because these turbines, spread over 800
kilometers, can produce no capacity value, they could never replace
the need for these conventional units.