Number 3 – Misrepresentation and Inefficiency

When wind advocates promote the glories of wind power, they use numbers based on the windmill’s nameplate rating, its maximum capacity – as in a February 20, 2015 Earth Watch article, which said, “…the total amount of wind power available… has grown to 318,137 megawatts in 2013.”

But because wind power is intermittent, windfarms usually generate an average output of about 33% of their capacity, which is why 318,137 megawatts is very misleading, and 95,000 would be more accurate, perhaps even generous. Thus, when they say that windmills can supply xxxxxxx homes, they are usually talking about the cumulative plate ratings on the generators – the output under ideal conditions, not the average amount of electricity they really produce.

US EIA Table 6.07.B. Capacity Factors for Utility Scale Generators Primarily Using Non-Fossil Fuels

Neither solar nor wind can deliver the 24/7 “baseload” power that is provided by nuclear plants plus hydropower, natural gas, oil and coal. Of those five, only nuclear power plants (despite Chernobyl, a plant deemed to be “illegal” everywhere else in the world), have been safely delivering carbon dioxide-free power for more than fifty years. (Wind also can’t handle cold weather.)

Chicago Loses Wind Power During a Polar Vortex, by Chris Martin, Bloomberg, 31 January 2019

Great Britain, faced with building 12 nuclear plants or the 30,000 1-MW windmills needed to provide an equal amount of power, chose nuclear. And Japan, which closed its nuclear plants due to post-Fukushima panic, has begun to reactivate them, which will reduce the thousands of tons of CO₂ they’ve been dumping into our atmosphere by burning methane [‘Natural’ Gas].

Nuclear Plants and Facilities in East Asia and Japan (Maps current as at January 2015) -Nuke Info Tokyo No. 165

Germany, which over-reacted by closing nuclear plants in favour of wind and solar, is paying almost four times more for electricity than nuclear France. And with its industries hurting, the Merkel government has begun to rethink nuclear power. While they debate, they are creating more CO₂ by burning lignite, the dirtiest member of the coal family.

“Fake and Vulgar”, climate news from Germany

“…Germany’s wind turbines as a whole ran at between 0 to 10% of their rated capacity 45.5% of the time…! The turbines, which the German government says will become The “workhorse” of the German power industry, ran at over 50% of their rated capacity only… 5.2% of the time.”

Pierre L. Gosselin, 2014

Germany 2014 Report Card Is In! Its 25,000 Wind Turbines Get An “F-“…Averaged Only 14.8% Of Rated Capacity! by Pierre L. Gosselin,  7 February 2015

Adjusted “Unadjusted” Data: NASA Uses The “Magic Wand Of Fudging”, Produces Warming Where There Never Was, by Pierre L. Gosselin,  25 June 2019

Merkel: Nuclear phase-out is wrong 10 June 2008

German onshore wind power – output, business and perspectives, by Benjamin Wehrmann 12 Apr 2022

Germany “paid” for the top line of the following graph, but only got the dark blue spikes. The light blue area is primarily supplied by burning carbon, which worsens Climate Change. (Every megawatt of wind generation capacity requires at least another MW of natural gas or coal generation for backup.)

Germany Faces Huge Cost of Wind Farm Decommissioning by Franz Hubik, 15 September 2017, Handelsblatt

In Germany, more and more wind turbines are being dismantled. The reason: subsidies are running out, the material is worn out… dismantling is extremely complex and expensive.

How much is wind power really costing Ontario? 31 cents per kWh, by Parker Gallant, 6 December 2016

Germany’s Wind & Solar Power FAIL: Top Economist Declares Energiewende “Delusional”, 27 January 2018, StopTheseThings

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Coming up next week, Episode 28 – Cow Farts

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Links and References

1. Next Episode – Episode 28 – Cow Farts
2. Previous Episode – Episode 26 – Tilting at Windmills
3. Launching the Unintended Consequences Series
4. Dr. George Erickson on LinkedIn
5. Dr. George Erickson’s Website, Tundracub.com
6. The full pdf version of Unintended Consequences
7. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_6_07_b
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacity_factor
9. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-30/when-does-the-windy-city-lose-wind-power-during-a-polar-vortex
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_vortex
11. https://www.nationalworld.com/news/environment/nuclear-power-stations-plants-uk-new-built-safe-3643530
12. https://cnic.jp/english/?p=3042
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_phase-out
14. https://notrickszone.com/2015/02/07/germany-2014-report-card-is-in-its-25000-wind-turbines-get-an-f-averaged-only-14-8-of-rated-capacity/
15. https://notrickszone.com/about-pierre-gosselin/
16. https://notrickszone.com/2019/06/25/adjusted-unadjusted-data-nasa-uses-the-magic-wand-of-fudging-produces-warming-where-there-never-was/
17. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP_Merkel_Nuclear_phase_out_is_wrong_1006081.html
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel
19. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/german-onshore-wind-power-output-business-and-perspectives
20. https://parkergallantenergyperspectivesblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/how-much-is-wind-power-really-costing-ontario/
21. https://www.linkedin.com/in/parker-gallant-8919215a/
22. https://www.netzerowatch.com/germany-faced-huge-cost-of-wind-farm-decommissioning/
23. https://www.linkedin.com/in/fhubik/
24. https://stopthesethings.com/2018/01/27/germanys-wind-solar-power-fail-top-economist-declares-energiewende-delusional/
25. https://stopthesethings.com/author/stopthesethings/
26. https://stopthesethings.com/2014/10/18/parker-gallant-uncovers-the-hidden-costs-of-ontarios-insane-wind-power-policy/

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