A changing climate’s said to justify massive subsidies to wind turbines and solar panels, but they’re as useless in frigid weather as they are when the mercury soars.
The northern hemisphere turns on bitter winters – getting wind turbines and solar panels to turn on in the midst of one, is another matter.
Last nothern winter, freezing Germans, desperate for coal-fired power, were forced to have a good, hard think about their obsession with ‘green’ energy.
During the first half of 2021, Germany’s wind power output plummeted by more than 20%, whereas its coal-fired power generators pumped up their output by a whopping 38% over the same period. [Note to Ed: you could probably point out that one hinges on the weather, and the other doesn’t].
Freezing Americans have already had a taste of their wind and solar ‘powered’ future, and didn’t take kindly to it. Solar panels carpeted in inches of snow and ice; wind turbines frozen solid; and breathless, frigid weather led to total collapses in wind and solar output across central USA.
On that theme, No Tricks Zone takes a look at what happens to an entirely weather-dependent power source when the weather turns frigid.
Devastating Drone Images Expose The Uselessness Of Wind Energy In Cold Weather
No Tricks Zone
Kenneth Richard
25 March 2021
A new study affirms 0.3 m (12 inches) of ice buildup along the tip of a wind turbine’s 50-meters-long blades during a typical ice storm dramatically reduces the blades’ capacity to rotate – even in very windy conditions. The averaged power production loss induced by this ice accretion reaches up to 80%.
Image Source: TechXplore.com
The evidence that wind energy cannot reliably meet even the most fundamental need to keep us warm during harsh winter weather continues to accumulate. Nearly 4.5 million Texas residents experienced these grid failure consequences last month.
When a wind turbine blade spins in cold, wet weather, the ice buildup can span the length of the 50-meters-long blade, severely disturbing the aerodynamic balance of the entire 150-meters-tall machine.
Drone images from a new study (Gao et al., 2021) reveal the tips of blades can accumulate 300 mm of ice during an ice storm. Consequently, the blades may slow dramatically or even shut down altogether. The averaged power loss in an icing-induced slowing of blade rotation is 80% when compared to non-iced turbine blades.
In other words, when the weather is cold, wind turbines cannot be relied upon to supply us with the energy we need.
Image Source: Gao et al., 2021
via STOP THESE THINGS
August 13, 2021