I had no idea how much energy these wind turbines can produce

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2476984,CST-NWS-wind08.article

Many farms finding wind cash a breeze

Single turbine in Illinois, Indiana takes up half-acre, can net $8,000 in a year

July 7, 2010

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporter

ODELL, Ill. -- The future is getting closer. Just 80 miles from Chicago on I-55, an army of windmills has risen in the middle of Illinois' cornfields.

One hundred and fifty gleaming-white, three-pronged turbines -- each reaching 400 feet above the corn fields -- began harvesting wind power March 1.

Another 140 turbines have gone up in La Salle County. They are among 1,100 around the state, most of which have just gone up in the past few years, changing the landscape and the horizon of this once-flat prairie state.

Not far away, along Interstate 65 near Fowler, Ind., about 100 miles southeast of Chicago, what could one day be one of the largest wind farms in the United States is rising, with 222 turbines so far.

President Obama made the encouragement of renewable energy a cornerstone of his policy of allocating federal stimulus money. And a state law took effect in Illinois in 2008 requiring Commonwealth Edison and the state's other power companies to get 5 percent of their power from renewable sources last year, 6 percent this year and a quarter of their power from renewable sources by 2025.

"We probably wouldn't be making the investments that it takes if it weren't for those standards," said Jan Johnson of Iberdrola Renewables, which spent more than $500,000 building the wind farm in Odell.

This wind farm generates 300 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 70,000 homes, Johnson said.

[TCJ70]

1. I don't understand these long term timelines...

...If there's money out there for this kind of thing, why aren't these power companies jumping on it? It's renewable, which means you don't have to buy fuel for it. Seems like that would be a good way to cut some expenses to me.

[Canuckistanian]

2. It's infrastructure - it takes a long time

There's property to buy, access corridors to clear, transformer stations, high tension lines and towers to build.

It takes planning and time.

[snooper2]

3. not to mention dealing with assholes who call them a "blemish"

on the landscape, or seascape for that matter...(if that's a word :) )

[mopinko]

6. i saw a blog of somebody who was complaining

about the SHADOWS they makes. ferchrissakes.
there is a huge one along i65 in indiana, just outside lafayette, and another big one out by galena. the wind in some parts of that area nearly blow your car off the road.
personally, i find wind farms beautiful. but what do i know, i love skyscrapers as well.

[XOKCowboy]

9. I think they're beautiful also. The wind farms along I-80 in Wyoming

are right beside the road and against a landscape that goes on for hundreds of miles. The huge white windmills dwarf the semis on the highway and somehow enhance the vastness of country. At least to me. Plus if you've ever driven I-80 through Wyoming the only thing you can count on is hundreds of miles of sagebrush and the wind. I'd hope that they put up a thousand more in that corridor.

It also seems like a great deal for the landowners. Too bad most of the land along the I-80 corridor is owned by the BLM and leased out for gas fracking.

[knitter4democracy]

7. Consumers in Michigan is. My SIL is the engineer working on it.

One problem up here with the wind turbines is that they can sling ice for miles, depending on wind speed, and that can be pretty dangerous. They're looking into how to fix that.

We get a good bit of wind on the lakes, so they're trying to build a wind farm out in Lake Michigan. So far, homeowners there are fighting it.

[NoNothing]

4. The figure is nonsense

"300 megawatts" is not a measurement of "electricity generated." It is a measurement of generation capacity.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Does that mean this is not a good idea?

http://www.windtoday.net/articles/TVA_Transmitting_300_Megawatts_of_Renewable_Wind_Power_From_Streator__IL_Cayuga_Ridge_Wind_Farm-93615.html

TVA Transmitting 300 Megawatts of Renewable Wind Power From Streator, IL Cayuga Ridge Wind Farm

Date Posted: May 11, 2010

Knoxville, TN--Brisk winds across the Illinois plains are now blowing clean, renewable energy into the Tennessee Valley Authority service region.

On Tuesday, May 11, TVA began transmitting to its customers 300 megawatts of renewable wind power received from Iberdrola Renewables Inc.'s Streator Cayuga Ridge wind park in Livingston County, Ill.

This marks the first delivery under seven contracts TVA recently signed to purchase up to 1,380 megawatts of renewable wind energy from the Midwest.

--------------------------------

It appears the Tennessee Valley Authority is buying up and selling all that "generation capacity" for some reason.

[NoNothing]

12. Not at all

However it does grossly overstate the actual effect of wind farms in particular.

For example, suppose you have a wind farm with a total capacity of 300 megawatts. Over time, it will, if it is like most wind farms, operate at about 30% capacity. So the effective average *output* over time will be only 100 megawatts.

[izquierdista]

5. "Once-flat"?

I had no idea that building windmills altered the topography. If they build more windmills, will Illinois look like the Alps?

[MineralMan]

8. I guess it's like an airplane, eh?

Those props just lift the ground right up. Eventually you get mountains. :rofl:

[Shireling]

10. This is such good news.

And yes, I think that they are beautiful too. And I like the lights at night.

I'm sure that big oil and big coal and fighting it every way they can.

But this gives me hope.

:)