Re: Wind energy a boon for farmers - tenfold returns !

From: Patrick Powers (frisbieinstein_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 10/31/04 

Date: 30 Oct 2004 22:29:07 -0700

jmfbahciv@aol.com wrote in message news:<_7-dnZfP2YxnGx7cRVn-2w@rcn.net>...
> In article <9511688f.0410300107.58983984@posting.google.com>,
> frisbieinstein@yahoo.com (Patrick Powers) wrote:
> >habshi@anony.com (habshi) wrote in message
> news:<418155f5.7038821@news.clara.net>...
> >> These if true are truly amazing figures . Nepal and other
> >> Himalayan countries can get very rich as the monsoon rises up the
> >> mountains. $3,000 return per quarter acre !!
> >>
> >
> >I've seen a big wind farm in Washington state. There were maybe 50
> >windmills, each with a generator about the size of a small truck.
> >Built by a Danish company.
> >
> >The potential is pretty close to unlimited. The limiting factor is
> >that current farms are built close to existing electrical lines.
>
> You mean it's the other way around. Why do you say being too close
> is a limiting factor?

It is uneconomical to build too far from existing electrical lines.
You have a chicken/egg problem: you won't build the lines because
there aren't enough windmills, and the windmills aren't there because
there are no lines. So windmills are being built near current lines,
and if all goes well the lines and windmills could grow together.

> >
> >The monsoon might not work though. The propellers feather to prevent
> >damage once the wind gets over 15 knots.
>
> Well, that takes care of the midwest of the US. High winds are
> common, not to mention tornado alley.
>

I'm talking about a particular model of big windmill from Denmark. A
smaller windmill would be better for high winds and could even be more
efficient.

> > .. Turbulent storm air might be
> >a problem. The monsoon is also too seasonal. Many places in the US
> >get wind all year, most of the time. It is a windy country west of
> >the Mississippi, and much is sparsely populated. A lot better site
> >than Denmark.
>
> If wind, which is more than a breeze, breaks them, you'll never have
> a continuous source of power from those windmills. Every single
> thunderstorm and blizzard would shut the grid down completely and
> that's exactly when people need power. In a blizzard, the wind
> wisks away the heat in the house in an instant (or feels that way).
>

Windmills alone will never be a truly continuous source of power. But
they don't have to be. Usually power is stored by pumping water up
into a reseviour(sp?).

The energy can electrolyse water to hydrogen, which in turn could be
used as automobile fuel.

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