Wind Turbines, hopefully on their way out

Nothing, it's reached grid parity, over it's lifetime it produces far more power than it makes same with money.
Subsidies are to meet targets by 2020. Otherwise we'll pay billions in fines, better to spend that on our infrastructure than on fines.

I also expect you'll ignore subsidies for hydrocarbon and nuclear plants as well.
Power generation has a large upfront cost.
 
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I thought part of the point of wind turbines was to fill in gaps in the grid,
so say if part of Scotland didn't have a power station nearby you could plonk a wind turbine there instead.

They are a bit of a niche idea, most places aren't windy enough.
 
Glaucus said:
Nothing, it's reached grid parity, over it's lifetime it produces far more power than it makes same with money.
Subsidies are to meet targets by 2020. Otherwise we'll pay billions in fines, better to spend that on our infrastructure than on fines.

I also expect you'll ignore subsidies for hydrocarbon and nuclear plants as well.
Power generation has a large upfront cost.
Click to expand...

You are ignoring the cost of keeping power stations running to back up wind turbines when the wind isn't blowing.
They are actually using diesel generators as backup as well.
Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR)

Also you cannot ignore the cost of altering the grid to handle the unstable power they create.
Who will we have to pay billions in fines to?
Tax breaks are not subsidies, you pay tax on profit.
 
Surely we should be investing heavily in wave power were surrounded by coasts. I'd hope we could be self sufficient and not have to rely on importing power during peak times.

It's not like tides have on and off periods.
 
There is something very graceful and magnificent seeing regular wind turbines in the country. It really does annoy me when people band together to block the development of clean energy yet the same people will happily consume it in their own homes.
 
altus said:
You are ignoring the cost of keeping power stations running to back up wind turbines when the wind isn't blowing.
They are actually using diesel generators as backup as well.
Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR)

Also you cannot ignore the cost of altering the grid to handle the unstable power they create.
Who will we have to pay billions in fines to?
Tax breaks are not subsidies, you pay tax on profit.
Click to expand...

Oh noes, back up that isn't running all the time. You still have large decrease in hydrocarbon use, which means less pollution and less imports. It's also a short term issue, until grid storage takes off.

You trying to say that we shouldn't spend money on the grid to upgrade it to cope with modern society. I guess we should all go back to hunter gathers as upgrades cost money.

We've made commitments to EU, if we don't make targets, as well as paying 10s of millions in imports for hydrocarbons.

It is just silly to be against renewables.

We've already lost court cases on inner city no2 and NOX levels, and government have to come up with a new plan to deal with it by December.
The longer we leave investment the more costly it will be for the uk, on numerous fronts.
 
Mynight said:
Surely we should be investing heavily in wave power were surrounded by coasts. I'd hope we could be self sufficient and not have to rely on importing power during peak times.

It's not like tides have on and off periods.
Click to expand...

We are investing a lot in to wave and tidal energy but the technology is far from ready for prime time yet.
And tides do have on and off periods every time they change direction.


Wind and solar PV are just a long way ahead of the other options.
 
D.P. said:
We are investing a lot in to wave and tidal energy but the technology is far from ready for prime time yet.
And tides do have on and off periods every time they change direction.


Wind and solar PV are just a long way ahead of the other options.
Click to expand...

Surely anything that can be tidal powered could be designed to utilise both directions?
 
Mynight said:
Surely anything that can be tidal powered could be designed to utilise both directions?
Click to expand...

It can but there is always the lull while the ride is fully out or in while it changes direction. Then there are the differences between neap and spring tides
 
Who'd have thought a thread on wind turbines would net ocuk new members :D.

Out of interest does anyone know how they test concepts? Is there a software solution or is it the case of making a scale product and testing it in a swimming pool with wave machine?
 
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