There is an inexhaustible supply of wind to drive their blades, but materials needed to make wind turbines are limited and the industry fears it will fail to keep pace with growing demand for the clean energy source. “We do whatever we can but it’s impossible to increase our (production) capacity overnight,” a spokesman for the Danish group Vestas told AFP.”
There is a gap between industrial capacity and demand, and it will take several years before we can fill the gap. Don’t expect miracles,” Peter Wenzel Kruze added.
Benefiting from spiralling oil prices and the popularity of green energy sources, wind farms — mostly on land but also offshore — have in recent years become an increasingly common sight throughout Europe…[and the U.S.].
Robert Gleitz, wind product chief at General Electric, explains that current supply problems have not affected major component parts of wind turbines such as blades, plinths or turbine pods.
Gleitz does however say that turbines ordered today would not be delivered until 2008 or possibly 2009.
The price of wind power has fallen steadily in the last 20 years.
“(Wind energy) technology produces 180 times the amount of electricity that it produced in the 80’s. It has matured and can compete with other forms of energy,” Valentiny said.
As I have been known to say — “it’s a good problem”.
And don’t forget assholes like Ted Kennedy who don’t want their picturesque views from the coast disrupted by an offshore cluster of these things.
That and Wave turbines, that work with Water.
they place an Bouy out that goes up and down, and genertates it own energy, as well as a continous system, that great for sea life growth also.
I wonder if the production of these turbines were outsourced to lower wage countries if the supply would still be scarce? What is the price of oil that makes operating these turbines not profitable? Will Global Warming cause an increase or decrease in the amount of useable wind resources?
As an idea where we in the US can put these wind turbines without too much outcry from the not in my backyard whiners, how about on the sides of intestates? Lots of open space that few people will complain about their view being obstructed.
#4. I heard recently of someone putting windfarms offshore, like on anchored floating platforms. Seems that the winds offshore are more reliable, and they can avoid much of the trouble with lost views.
I got my email request back from Renewable Devices, they only produce for the UK market so far. Hopefully a NA supplier by 2008.
I would so install one of these at my business to run my servers 24/7. I did the math, w/o installation it’s just under 10K Can$.
Being in Montreal, Quebec, where my electricity is dirt cheap, I can’t even repay in 10 years, but I’d do the installation anyways, for other reasons.
I believe very much in the merits of green localized power production. The bonus of having power during a general power failure too.
http://www.renewabledevices.com/swift/videoclips.html
This turbine is small, quiet, efficient. Versus the gargantuan ones, that need to be large, to push electricity across hundreds of miles.
(tech: larger = more amps, that can covert into high voltage, to offset voltage drop over distance – wire resistance)
I have an old friend who has one of the RD wind turbines on his house in Glasgow — in a residential neighborhood. Ended up doing an endorsement for the critter. He’s happy enough — though I think Scottish law is a lot friendlier at installing something like this in town.
Now that you can sell your excess power back to the grid, you may see a greater acceptance of these and other alternate-energy devices.
I guess California is the only state that has this wind things down by the desert.
9. No we have them in Northern New Mexico on the Apache Reservation. Desert area.
PNM’s wind farm is near House, NM, more or less between Ft. Sumner and Clovis, NM. That’s considered high plains, not desert, but the cattle probably don’t care about the wind turbines.
Scotland is putting up wind farms at a pretty fast clip……even with the NIMBY’S, almost all of them are being accepted, though occasionally they are scaled down a bit. A huge offshore one was just given the go ahead off the Scottish coast and another even bigger one was ok’ed for off the English coast.
Scotland is perfect, most of them are being put up on the outer islands which have exceptually strong winds most of the year.
California is having trouble getting them approved, seems the rich, liberal left dosen’t want them obstructing their view anymore than Kennedy does. There are actually Green groups in California fighting the placement of any new wind farms.
If the Gov’t subsidized small turbines, like ND’s little wonder (and there are others), then many businesses would have them installed.
That would drive the price down, and eventually non-business owners would buy them.
Less danger to wildlife, being so small.
Just like we got used to ugly TV antenna’s on top of roofs, small wind turbines make sense.