Mark Duchamp writes in with this news from the Lerida, Autonomous Community (state) of Catalonia, Spain:
A judge ordered the removal of 45 wind turbines on the grounds that planning laws were violated. There was no “general municipal plan” establishing a “reserva del suelo” – i.e. the land was not legally declared appropriate for the erection of wind turbines.
Spanish Version:
English Version:
According to another article going back to January 22nd, Spanish architects from the Autonomous Community (state) of Cantabria complained that windfarms will make it impossible to have the southern valleys declared World Heritage Area, despite the many romanesque churches and buildings making them worthy of that designation.
http://www.amigosdelromanico.org/noticia/id_10032.html
My smile threatens to inconvenience my ears 🙂
Not to worry.
When the sea level rises they [the wind farms], will be underwater and the tourists will be whale watching.
See, wind turbines do create jobs. First to put them up. Next to take them down.
Kum Dollison wrote:
“Meanwhile, Wind produced 24,796 Megawatt hrs of electricity in California, yesterday.
http://www.caiso.com/green/renewrpt/20110517_DailyRenewablesWatch.pdf
NO Meltdowns were reported.”
From CA’s own energy site, they report for 2009 (last year listed) a total consumption of 267837 MkwH = 267837 x 10^9 wH = 2.68 x 10^ 14 wH. So the daily use was about that number divided by 365 = 7.3 x 10^11 wH = 730,000 MwH. So the daily production you quoted is about 25,000 MwH/730,000MwH = 3.4% of the total needed (in 2009!) to run California. Good luck with that!
So…apparently something is NOT blowing in the wind.
@Kum Dollison
Wind generated 24,796MWhrs over the day. Excellent. A pity, though, that at the time of peak demand (27,000MW+ between 19:00 to 21:00) wind generated at it’s lowest level of the day (2,500MW).
Geothermal, on the other hand, produced a rock steady (oooh – pun!) predictable output all day.
Wind sucks. Just because it _can_ be used to produce power doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do so.
Dermot
—-this brings to mind womethihng which I’ve been worrying about recently: when TPTB finally realise that their windmills are useless or worse — what are they going to do with them? How do they dismantle them and carry them away (especially the sea ones), and what are they going to do with all the metal?
Don’t forget, a lot of that “Imported” electricity is Wind. As for Geothermal: I love it. Biomass, solar? Ditto.
If you’ll notice, Ca got 73,659 megawatt/hrs from ‘Domestic” renewables (doesn’t include Large Hydro, or Nuclear,) yesterday. That’s a smidge over 12%.
Fossil fuels, on the other hand, seem to be down to around the 22% range. (plus whatever FF-generated power they might have “imported” – which I believe is probably down to a pretty small number.)
I believe that, within 10 years, Ca will be pretty much “out” of the “electricity from Fossil Fuels” business. It’s hard to see how that could be a “bad” thing.
Sonya Porter,
leave many where they are as monuments—some lasting for centuries, no doubt—of how man can combine ingenuity with stupidity.
The there’s hope for us! The battle is at a crucial stage.
http://www.palmerston-north.info
Funny that some folks are cheering this.
I drive a lot around the Spanish countryside and to see one of these windmills, which blight the landscape, actually working is a rare sight indeed.
Ask the average person in any country, state, or province, which has invested heavily in wind power about their opinions on this form of electricity generation and you are likely to receive a string of invective.
Very simply, it is an eyesore, plus very expensive and unreliable and should be no part of any sane country’s energy strategy, until sometime – if ever – an effective means of storing electricity is invented.
California will report success with their renewables, regardless of the actual data. Soviet Army Units were always reported at 100% readiness.
Anybody flying in to Malaga airport can see how much these things spoil the countryside, as they proudly stand along the mountain ridge lines, motionless and silent.
This judge obviously didn’t get the memo.
@kum dullison
….which equates to about 4% of the total demand for electricity in the state. Put another way, 24/25s of California’s juice did not come from wind.
It was also highly variable. A maximum hourly production of about 1700 MW, down to a minimum of about 600 MW. With the exception of solar (which clearly is not going to do much in the nighttime), all the other renewable resources give a predictabel and smooth output…and could be controlled to match demand. Wind doesn’t and can’t.
Windmilss fell out of widespread use when the steam engine was invented, because steam was a much much much better power source. Nothing has changed in the basic physics and calling them wind turbines, not windmills makes no difference. They are a crap way to generate power for anything other than rich hobbyist purposes.
Kum Dollison says:
May 18, 2011 at 6:56 am
“I believe that, within 10 years, Ca will be pretty much “out” of the “electricity from Fossil Fuels” business. It’s hard to see how that could be a “bad” thing.”
Kum, whilst I live on a lovely Mediterranean Island called Cyprus with full on power and NO windmills, my son resides in San Fran. I pointed out your post to him and he shrugged and said…”Ca is full of weirdo’s, look who they elected Governor!
Perhaps you are correct and Ca will no longer use fossil fuels in 10 years. It will be interesting to drive over the border into Ca and see a dark state or at least one lit up by importing fossil fuelled electricity from other states!
@ur momisugly Soyna
6:36
Greenpeace is going to take all the windmills and mount them on their boats that are used to harass businesses and people.
The windmills will provide the electricity for the electric motors that turn the props and as they move, the wind gets stronger and generates more electricity, and so on… and so on………… perpetual motion.
Oooops! Sorry. I don’t think Greenpeace is in favour of windpower anymore.
Pete, I live in Ms, not Ca. However, I used to see California in the news quite a lot. A lot of stories about “Rolling Blackouts,” Enron, nat gas from Tx, etc.
I haven’t seen any of those stories, lately. I guess the ‘lights’ are “staying on,” eh?
“Investing in wind is getting more and more dodgy: the public mood is swinging against it, the scientific basis of global warming is worthless and more and more contrary evidence keeps pouring in and now the courts are on our side.”
Public approval is negatively impacting the prevalance of windfarms…
or…
…the shift is hitting the fan.
Granted, it isn’t a large part of the story, but regardless, to me, there is untapped gloating potential in the notion that a windfarm is going to be torn down because it encroaches on a site filled with old churches of historical significance. As a Christian American who is constantly seeing the ACLU make it a crime to publicly display a crucifix, there is a joyful rustling within my soul that, somewhere, a house of God took priority over a totem to Gaia.
FAN-TASTIC!
@kadaka – The report you found concerns an appeal of a January 2009 ruling against another facility.
“I believe that, within 10 years, Ca will be pretty much “out” of the “electricity from Fossil Fuels” business. It’s hard to see how that could be a “bad” thing.”
At the bottom of the page it shows that CA’s largest source of power was “imports”. So maybe someone could explain why if CAs’ policies are working, why imports are so high?
Why haven’t renewables replaced imports in CA? Isn’t this the same problem the UK had over the winter? They had to import energy from France. What happens to the UK if France doesn’t have any surplus? How many would freeze to death in winter without power?
What happens to CA if your neighbors don’t have any surplus? Are you going to shut down the state for the day if it is cloudy and the wind isn’t blowing? How many power plants could you have built with the loss of the economy for a single day?
The worlds largest proven reserves of coal. So much new shale gas that the price has gone down to the point where it is nearly free. Hundreds of years of known supplies at current consumptions levels. Enough to convert the economy from oil to gas, including automobiles.
What is the answer? Ask China. They are about to eat your lunch.
http://www.caiso.com/green/renewrpt/20110517_DailyRenewablesWatch.pdf
Kum said:
“I believe that, within 10 years, Ca will be pretty much “out” of the “electricity from Fossil Fuels” business. It’s hard to see how that could be a “bad” thing.”
That might be true, but probably because everyone moved out to avoid the ever increasing taxes and the Governor turned out the last of the lights in Sacramento! Beautiful state full of stupid people who want something for nothing all the time.
I’m sorry to see that the wind mills referenced in this article must be torn down on a technicality, especially if they are providing needed energy. However, I do appreciate the irony. You just can’t make this stuff up. 🙂
Bill
Bill
fenbeagle – fantastic – thank you!