Wind Energy - "green energy" scam?

[Nienna]

Talk abour symbolism!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1609511985267511296

Here is the English translation without the link:

This picture of the burning wind turbine of Losheim
is very impressive.

Unfortunately, we still do not know how many potentially carcinogenic CFRP fibers were blown into the environment here at high wind speed.

 

[eightyfour]

Australia has gone insane with wind. So much so that the government payed a contractor to lace all the wind facility's together with thousands of kilometers of transmission line infrastructure. Very costly exercise to have a an unreliable energy grid. Then there is the maintenance costs. All payed for by the tax payer through subsidy.

 

[Voyageur]

Australia has gone insane with wind. So much so that the government payed a contractor to lace all the wind facility's together with thousands of kilometers of transmission line infrastructure. Very costly exercise to have a an unreliable energy grid. Then there is the maintenance costs. All payed for by the tax payer through subsidy.

Here is their buy-in program (at least in NSW) to farmers for their land in hosting the transmission lines:

The program will provide an annual sum of $10,000 per year over 20 years for every kilometre of new transmission line infrastructure.

This will be on top of the existing one-off payment farmers receive when the lines are built now.

Australian-first scheme will pay farmers for hosting new high-voltage powerlines

The NSW government has announced farmers will receive a yearly payment if high-voltage powerlines are built across their properties.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Aeneas]

I noticed this article which hasn't been posted here. Pulling down a wind farm to make way for coal mining.

Germany Is Dismantling A Wind Farm To Make Way For A Coal Mine | OilPrice.com

In what has been described as a “paradoxical” situation, Germany is dismantling a wind farm to expand a coal mine

oilprice.com

Germany Is Dismantling A Wind Farm To Make Way For A Coal Mine​

By Michael Kern - Oct 26, 2022, 9:30 AM CDT

A wind farm is being dismantled in western Germany to make way for an expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in a “paradoxical” situation highlighting the current prioritization of energy security over clean energy in Europe’s biggest economy.
The dismantling of at least one wind turbine at the wind farm close to the German coal mine Garzweiler, operated by energy giant RWE, has already started. RWE says that lignite, or brown coal, has been mined from the Garzweiler coalfields for over 100 years.
RWE also said at the end of September that three of its lignite-fired coal units that were previously on standby would return to the electricity market on schedule in October.

“The three lignite units each have a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW). With their deployment, they contribute to strengthening the security of supply in Germany during the energy crisis and to saving natural gas in electricity generation,” RWE said last month.
Now the company is expanding the lignite mine at Garzweiler after a court in Münster in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled in favor of the energy group in a land dispute in March this year to expand the lignite mine.
Commenting on the dismantling of wind turbines to make way for expanding a coal mine, Guido Steffen, a spokesperson for RWE, told the Guardian, “We realise this comes across as paradoxical.”
“But that is as matters stand,” Steffen added.
Earlier this week, the ministry for economic and energy affairs of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia urged RWE to abandon the plan to dismantle the wind farm.
“In the current situation, all potential for the use of renewable energy should be exhausted as much as possible and existing turbines should be in operation for as long as possible,” a spokesperson for the state’s ministry told the Guardian.

Realpolitik is back.

Realpolitik (German: [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]; from German real 'realistic, practical, actual', and Politik 'politics') refers to enacting or engaging in diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly binding itself to explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical premises. In this respect, it shares aspects of its philosophical approach with those of realism and pragmatism. It is often simply referred to as pragmatism in politics, e.g. "pursuing pragmatic policies" or "realistic policies".

Perhaps as Joe also mentioned in the latest Newsreal podcast, some Europeans are seeing which way the wind is blowing and are taking steps to protect themselves from the collapse of the US and the geopolitical rearranging of things into a multipolar world. Germany might be able to keep themselves supplied with coal and nuclear power in the short term until things stabilize and some repairs are done with relations with Russia. After that NS2 can be repaired and cheaper energy in the form of gas can flow again.

 

[JEEP]

Safe and effective:

 

[Natus Videre]

Safe and effective:

The first wind turbine faceplanted because she understood that all her power came from the ground, unlike what the 'green agenda' told her. Some turbines decided to sympathize with gas stoves while others spun out of control, signalling the imminent collapse of carbon neutrality.

We are long past the point where things happen by chance.

 

[Aeneas]

All is not well in the wind industry according to an article today. Orders are collapsing, the prices of raw materials are increasing as is inflation and supply chain problems. Added to that is the problem that the bigger wind mills are facing high stresses from the wind speed and sudden changes, which wears the components down. This was problem before but easier to manage. Now due to the massive sizes of these wind mills, it is a big problem. The solution proposed, is more subsidies, or so it appears.

Here is the article from which the above was gleaned:

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[luc]

All is not well in the wind industry according to an article today. Orders are collapsing, the prices of raw materials are increasing as is inflation and supply chain problems. Added to that is the problem that the bigger wind mills are facing high stresses from the wind speed and sudden changes, which wears the components down. This was problem before but easier to manage. Now due to the massive sizes of these wind mills, it is a big problem. The solution proposed, is more subsidies, or so it appears.

Here is the article from which the above was gleaned:

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Yeah, finally some good news!

 

[Nienna]

There's another article talking about the failures of the windmills.

Green Fail: Dozens of Windmills Bailed Out by Diesel Generators - Truth Press

Dozens of wind turbines in Scotland recently failed because of cold weather and were bailed out by the same fossil fuels the green energy mob would like us to believe can and should be eliminated. The latest black eye for hardline advocates for renewable energy occurred in December when 71...

truthpress.com

Here's a bit from the article:

The latest black eye for hardline advocates for renewable energy occurred in December when 71 turbines were hooked up to diesel generators to keep them warm after they failed to function appropriately in frigid temperatures, according to Glasgow’s Daily Record.

The report said the turbines froze up, siphoned away more power than they generated, and in some cases polluted the country’s beautiful countryside and waterways with hydraulic fluid.

An anonymous whistleblower described as a worker with electricity provider Scottish Power spoke up about the incident.
[...]
“Turbines are regularly offline due to faults where they are taking energy from the grid rather than producing it, and also left operating on half power for long periods due to parts which haven’t been replaced,” the person said.

“Dirty hydraulic oil is also regularly being sprayed out across the Scottish countryside due to cracks in mechanisms.”

 

[1peacelover]

Wind energy is a scam in some parts where it is used as well as PV and the new electrical grid. TPTB control the narrative. It is driven by greed. Placing them in positions where they will not work. The changing climate. The world as it is cannot support these systems. If they were placed there with the intention of healing and good, there may have been different result. I don't know.

 

[Glenn]

There's another article talking about the failures of the windmills.

Green Fail: Dozens of Windmills Bailed Out by Diesel Generators - Truth Press

Dozens of wind turbines in Scotland recently failed because of cold weather and were bailed out by the same fossil fuels the green energy mob would like us to believe can and should be eliminated. The latest black eye for hardline advocates for renewable energy occurred in December when 71...

truthpress.com

Here's a bit from the article:

Nice quote from the end of the article...

"If science could find a way to harness wishful thinking, the green lobby would have powered the globe with it decades ago."

 

[Aeneas]

I looked for how long wind mills last and found this article from where one can learn quite a bit about the cost and maintenance issues with windmills. It is especially the gearbox and the blades. It is unclear at the moment if the projected lifespan of 20-25 years can be reached.

How Long Do Wind Turbines Last? Average Lifespan Explained - Energy Follower

Currently, there are over 65,000 active wind turbines in the United States . With a capacity of 125 GW, wind power is now the third largest source of

energyfollower.com

Some snippets from the article:

At 10 years of life, blades and gearboxes are needing to be replaced already so it is unlikely they will make it another 10 years. The cost to teardown a single turbine is $200,000, not including any payback from selling or recycling valuable materials, which is heavily labor intensive and not always cost effective. Instead of decommissioning, more often the site will be ‘repowered’ which means replacing the turbines with newer technology.

Modern wind turbines are designed to last 20 years and with proper monitoring and preventative maintenance two to three times per year (increasing with frequency as the turbine ages) their lifetime can be extended to 25 years [6].

Top Causes for Wind Turbine Failure​

Why do most wind turbines fail? Externally, the reasons may be birds, lightning, rainfall, blade detachment, delamination, blade cracks [7]. Internally, electrical and mechanical failures are to blame such as a short circuit or if the gearbox stops working.

Electrical failures are the most common reason and very expensive to fix. These failures are mostly due to high humidity levels over 60% in the nacelle and tower where the electrical components are located. The cabinets are not completely airtight, so the outside air puts the electrical system at risk.

Likewise, the moisture in the air will weaken metal components such as the gearbox, bearings, and yaw gear. Better humidity control and filtering any salt from the air is essential to the turbine’s life.

On average wind turbines fail at least once a year and have a reliability of 98%. Wind turbine blades failing are still rare with about 0.54% (or 3,800) of all blades in the United States failing every year [10].

The average age of wind turbines in the United States in 2020 is 7 years with an estimated 11 years by 2025 [12]. Performance of wind turbines greatly decreases with age, about 16% per decade or 1.6% each year [13].

Decommissioning and Recycling​

About 85% of all turbine components can be recycled, such as steel, copper wiring, electronics and gearing [2]. The blades, however, are made from fiberglass and more difficult to recycle. They require heavy machinery to be cut and, often times, the blades are taken to landfills or stored elsewhere.

The above does not make differentiate between landbased and seabased windmills. The cost is much greater for installing seabased windmills and requires a whole infrastructure to be constructed and put out in the ocean where they operate. Maintenance is another big issue for those windmills as is the extreme conditions which they are exposed to, which means much greater tear and wear.

In comparison the life cycle of a nuclear power plant is initially 40 years with possibilities to prolong it.
Coal power plants has a lifecycle of 50+ years.

 

[Laurs]

This new study found that wind farms contribute significantly to the drying out of soils and to drought. The study focuses on wind farms located in the grasslands of China. They analyzed changes in soil moisture in different wind directions and seasons and then judged the impacts of wind turbine operation on soil moisture. Their research shows that the operation of wind turbines will cause significant drying of soil, and this drought effect differs significantly according to season and wind direction.

Here's what this means applied to the situation in Germany, according to the German online SciFi site:

Manmade: Studies Suggest That Wind Parks Cause Climate Change, Even Regional Drought

Germany’s drought happens to be worse in the regions with lots of wind turbines.

wattsupwiththat.com

Manmade: Studies Suggest That Wind Parks Cause Climate Change, Even Regional Drought​

Plastering the landscape with wind turbines for producing renewable energy may lead to regional drought.

Germany has so far installed over 30,000 wind turbines, which is about 1 every 11 sq. km. Plans are calling for doubling or even tripling wind power capacity. But this may be detrimental as new studies show that wind farms are altering local climates, and thus may be having an effect on global climate and contributing to regional droughts.

Northern Germany, for example, has a high concentration of wind turbines and has seen an unusual dry spell since 2019. Fortunately, recent rains have alleviated these drought conditions. Alarmist climate scientists of course blamed rising CO2 emissions for the North German drought.

Yet, a recent paper by Wang et al (2023) shows that wind farms reduce regional soil moisture, thus confirming earlier model simulations of wind-park-made climate change, e.g. by Zhou et al (2013).

German online SciFi site here reports in depth on the topic. “Climate change: Wind farms cause drought and dryness – Evidence is mounting [New study]“.

The site presents one chart depicting the wind energy installation concentration over Germany:




The North Sea region has an extremely high concentration of installed wind energy capacity. Conversely, Southern Germany has a very low concentration of installed wind energy capacity. Image: Bundesamt für Naturschutz.

Next we look at a chart depicting the ground moisture across Germany (2019). The left side shows the moisture anomaly down to a soil depth of 25 cm while the right chart shows moisture anomaly down to depth of 1.8 meters.




The legend shows, the redder the area, the drier it is. Germany’s drought happens to be worse in the regions with lots of wind turbines. Scientists suspect these turbines may be playing a role here. Image: Drought Monitor Germany.

“Is it a coincidence that the soils are driest where most wind turbines are located?” SciFi wonders.

Mounting evidence of link between drought and wind parks

In the article, SciFi examines a number of published research papers on the subject and summarizes:

As a conclusion, it can be said that it is certain that wind farms change the local climate. Very large wind farms or many wind farms also have an effect on the global climate. The results are mostly based on simulation models, whereby the study by Zhou et al. (2013), which was able to draw on comparative data, confirms the results found in the simulation models. The new study by Wang et al. (2023), which we discussed today, confirms the model calculations using real data obtained from a Chinese wind farm and shows for the first time that soil moisture is reduced by wind farms not only downwind but also upwind.
Wind farms thus contribute significantly to the drying out of soils, and to drought.”

 

[Voyageur]

Here's what this means applied to the situation in Germany, according to the German online SciFi site:

From the link, that is a rather dramatic telling picture, albeit offshore:


Horns rev offshore wind farm Aerial picture of Horns rev wind farm in Denmark Vattenfall Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) Creative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic — CC BY-ND 2.0

 

[Persej]

They say that nuclear energy is not a good solution for Germany, because renewable sources require an additional source of energy that can be quickly started, and nuclear power plants cannot because they need several days to start them. So that leaves coal and gas. But gas is not a solution because we know who blow up the North Stream gas pipeline. So that leaves coal. But coal will be forbidden in EU. So Germany will just have to pay France or other countries for extra energy when renewables are not producing enough.