Defects stop turbines at Iron Range wind farm

[ben_meyers]

DULUTH, Minn. - A wind farm on Minnesota's Iron Range was fully online this summer, but seven of the 10 wind turbines have been shut off in recent months for repairs.

For that reason, Taconite Ridge wind farm isn't producing as much electricity as Minnesota Power anticipated.

The $50 million project overlooks U.S. Steel's Minntac mine and covers about 450 acres.

This fall, inspectors with the turbine manufacturer discovered defects in several of the turbines' blades, and repairs have taken longer than anticipated, said Amy Rutledge, a spokeswoman for Minnesota Power.

"We had hoped they would be wrapped up by mid-December, but we've had a few issues with the weather," Rutledge said. Windy weather prevented the manufacturer from removing the rotors as quickly as they'd have liked, she said.(snip)


Taconite Ridge is the first large-scale wind farm in northern Minnesota. At full capacity, the turbines could produce 25 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power 8,000 homes.

http://www.startribune.com/local/35654849.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7EaDiaMDCiUZ

$50 million dollar project, 8000 homes= $6000 each
Where do I plug in my Chevy Volt?

[lapfog_1]

1. A little math

Assume that the wind farm costs $5M a year in maintenance over 20 years, further assume the operators want to make a 10% return on the investment (not compounded).

$50 M build cost.
$100 M 20 years at $5 M per year.
$5 M return on investment.

$155 M over 20 years.


divide by 8000 users.

$155 M / (8000 x 240 months) = $80.73 per month per customer.

You plug your Volt into a wall outlet in the garage (but wait for a better electric vehicle).

[NNadir]

2. You are assuming that the wind plant will last 20 years.

Many of the wind turbines at Altamont pass did not last that long when they were built in the 1970's.

You are also ignoring the cost of disposing of the waste, and the cost of the back up power, the disposal of waste for the back up power, an inevitable redundancy that induces cost. If you have to build a dangerous natural gas plant everytime you build a wind plant - and you do - the costs are not really that cheap.

This often comes as news to people, but the wind does not blow continuously.

I note, as well, that "homes" is not a unit of energy, and that you are ignoring the possibility that "homes" do not turn off all the electricity on doldrum days.

In general, all "renewables will save us" posts consist of claiming that the unit of energy is "the home," and confusing the obvious distinction between power and energy.

You cannot be in the "renewables will save us" camp if you have taken a college level course in physics.

The unit of power is the watt. The unit of energy is the joule. If you multiply a unit of power by a unit of time (generally the second or the hour, but sometimes the minute and the day) you get a unit of energy.

A common pop unit of energy is the kwh, kilowatt-hour.

[kristopher]

3. Poor little feller...

Wants his toys to glow in the dark and can't take no for an answer.


NO. Bad NNadir. No nukes for you.