Wind Energy in the Modern Power Grid
E-mail
RSS
- Alternative Energy Debate
- Hydroelectric Power
- Developing Renewable Energy
- Wind Technology
- Hippies. Treehuggers.
In the last installment of this column I mentioned some issues regarding wind energy in the modern power grid. I touched on overblown concerns about animal strikes and fluid leakage, but there was one area I’d read about but did not mention: aesthetics. There is opposition to moving forward with clean energy because some people think that wind turbines don’t look nice.
I’d come across some murmurings to this affect but didn’t put much stock in them because, to me, this seemed like a pretty silly objection. Surely a vista marred by smog, deforestation and coal slurry looks worse than a line of towers that produce clean energy on top of a mountain. Enter: North Carolina. In early August, the North Carolina Senate voted by a margin of 42 to 1 to ban industrial sized wind turbines from the state’s mountaintops. According to the program coordinator for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy this plan would effectively eliminate 2/3 of the onshore wind generation potential of North Carolina. That’s 66% of the state’s possible terrestrial wind energy gone as a result of, as the executive director of the North Carolina Energy Association says, “an issue about do people want to look at wind turbines in the mountains of North Carolina.”
The Tar Heel State’s desire to preserve the integrity of its natural mountaintop landscapes is understandable to an extent – especially considering the tourist dollars brought in from nature hikers – but it stands to reason that the best way to protect nature is to transition away from fossil fuels. This is particularly true of North Carolina, one of the largest state customers coal mined by mountaintop removal (MTR). Bills introduced in the state senate to ban use of the product have not fared as well as the campaign against wind. The state’s largest energy company, Duke Energy, defends the continued use of MTR for 50% of the state’s coal-sourced power. On its face the campaign against inland wind turbines seeks to preserve the pristine beauty of North Carolina’s countryside, but the net result allows energy companies to continue to blow off the tops of mountains, ejecting sediment into the air and neighboring rivers.
The negative environmental impact of this kind of coal mining cannot be overstated, nor can the potential benefits of switching to wind. As the technology continues to evolve, the amount of power that can be extracted will increase. New designs for more efficient turbines are already in development. If early projections are correct, these models could represent a leap over classic rotor designs similar to the difference between jet engines and propeller planes. These smaller constructs will be able to be placed closer together – optimizing power generated per land area – and will be able to generate power from a wider range of wind speeds. This is all calculated to result in a 35% to 50% increase in efficiency, which would generate up to four times more power. Such new technology makes that 66% of potential energy blocked by North Carolina’s ban even more significant.
Proponents of the bill state that offshore wind power is still a viable alternative, but this presupposes that wind power is a choice between land-based and ocean-based towers. Yes, offshore wind farms are still an option, but they’d be a far better option as an addition to mountaintop generated wind rather than as a replacement.
At the time of this article’s writing, the bill is currently under review in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Hopefully further debate will temper some of the alarmism that pushed it through the state Senate. I, for one, can think of few things more beautiful than a future powered by clean energy.
Post new comment