The near total uselessness of so-called wind farms 

The near total uselessness of so-called wind farms

March 1, 2013 by stopthesethings 5 Comments

 

Herald Sun, Melbourne, February 28, 2013

Terry McCrann
THE near total uselessness of so-called wind farms was nicely if unintentionally exposed by the detail in the AGL interim profit numbers yesterday.
AGL has almost doubled its wind farm so-called capacity with the 420 MW Macarthur wind farm.
That one wind farm now comprises an impressive 7 per cent of AGL’s total generation capacity of 5824 MW. All of its wind farms add to a seemingly even more impressive 16 per cent of its generation capacity.
Pity though, that they don’t produce much actual electricity.
Although AGL trumpeted loudly that its Hallett wind farms had operated “near” 40 per cent capacity, all the farms contributed just 972 GWh in the half, or less than 10 per cent of total generation of 10,196 GWh in the half.
The new Macarthur farm, albeit only operating for three months, contributed a miserable 128 GWh.
The contrast with the main power source, Loy Yang A, was stark and sobering. With its capacity of 2210 MW, Loy Yang generated 7299 GWh in the half.
That is to say, with a little over double the capacity, Loy Yang A generated more than seven times actual electricity than the wind farms. As it kept chugging along even when the wind didn’t blow.
Two further points. Even that miserable contribution flatters wind, because all other forms of generation have to take second place to it. When the wind does blow, every miserable GWh is taken in tribute to the great secular god of so-called renewable energy targets.
Secondly, somewhere, another form of real power generation has to be kept ticking over, not to supply power, but just to kick in when . . . well, when the wind don’t blow.
For when an impressive 924 MW of so-called wind capacity couldn’t power the lights in even a single house.