By P Gosselin on 7. May 2023
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 concertation of 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.”
Hat-tip: EIKE.
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Meanwhile, out at sea
As the industry pushes to ‘go higher’, with the deployment of larger, higher capacity turbines, there is significant concern from risk management professionals across the on- and offshore wind sector that this ambition is coming at the cost of one too many hair-raising moments.
An unprecedented number of mechanical breakdowns, component failures and serial defects are damaging the profits of manufacturers, placing pressure on the supply chain to keep up and leading to mounting project delays.
While there is currently no shortage of capacity in the market, insurers are now reconsidering the risks of underwriting larger, newer offshore wind turbines.
We must wake up to the reality of these challenges. On account of growing failure rates, coupled with ongoing supply chain challenges, participation in the offshore wind market has become a risky business, not only for insurers, but also manufacturers, developers, and supplier companies – with some now facing a material risk to their survival. With so much at stake, we must ask ourselves, have offshore wind turbines gone too big, too fast?
Vertical Limit : GCube Insurance » (gcube-insurance.com)
Getting to be a big difference between wind speed at the top and bottom of the rotor swept area, which implies stresses on the hub bearing that keep changing as the blades rotate. Bit like repeatedly throwing a wrecking ball at it. Leads to faster wear and breakage risk.
The same phenomenon applies to underwater tidal turbines, with their size being restricted in order to avoid being wrecked in short order. Some early designs were too big a diameter, and failed rapidly. The limitation on rotor size and hence turbine power is why tidal stream turbines will never be economic. Note that the constraints on hydro turbines are rather different.
I had forgotten about the case that led to this – a payment of about £2m a year in compensation for wake effects of adding a new wind farm (Burbo Bank Extension) upwind from another (the original Burbo Bank):