Re: Wind Farm off Texas Coast

Granted that the technology may have changed, but I live on a barrier island
off the coast of North Carolina and one of our weird property owners thought
it'd be cool to use the wind to generate his electricity about 15 or 20
years ago. So, he erected one of those unsightly wind generators on his
lot, signed an agreement with the local power company to sell them any
excess power he had no use for and waited for the wind to blow and turn him
into a millionaire.

In about five years time, he'd become so wealthy from his astute investment
that he was able to raze his gizmo, affectionately known as Weirdo's Folly
by his neighbors, because the salt air that was always there even when the
wind didn't blow had rusted the mechanism into permanent nothingness. In
addition, he'd learned that if he'd wanted to fight off the ravages of that
salt air to keep the gizmo capable of turning in the wind, the ongoing
repair costs would have far exceeded any profits the gizmo might have ever
made for him.

One of the unforeseen consequences of his introduction into the world of
Rube Goldberg was that the noise that humongous wind fan made when it was
still capable of turning offended all of his neighbors who preferred peace
and quiet at night when they were trying to sleep. It ultimately succeeded
in getting him ostracized by all of his former neighbors and he shortly
after departed our happy little island with his tail between his legs with
nothing more to show for his experiment in technology than a little bit of
wisdom about the folly of being a trail blazer when you don't know one end
of the jungle from the other.

Just thought you might be interested in a little bit of history concerning
wind generated electric power.

George Z

Jean Smith wrote:
In article <96p76216u59ku7jllfbqdhjeh4sbbr9vqd@xxxxxxx>,
jimstevens <jimstevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

that is $8000-16000 per house served. Interesting. Wonder how long
it will take to recover investment? Will costs come down as
developmental and initial deployment costs are distributed over futue
projects?? Very interesting but those are hugh numbers. Also wonder
about cat 5+ hurricane winds?

Damn eco bastards always show up and drive costs up don't they! Same
fools who protest high gas prices and all the rest. Just shoot some
of them.


On 11 May 2006 14:58:13 -0700, "Golden State Poppy"
<GoldenStatePoppy@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>Wind farm to be built off Texas coast
>
>LYNN BREZOSKY
>Associated Press
>
>SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - Texas officials announced plans Thursday
>for the nation's largest offshore wind farm, consisting of as many as
>500 windmills out in the Gulf of Mexico.
>
>Houston-based Superior Renewable Energy will build and operate the
>project, which will be situated within about 10 miles of Padre Island.
>It is expected to cost $1 billion to $2 billion and should be ready in
>five years.
>
>Its 400-foot turbines would generate a total of 500 megawatts of
>electricity, or enough energy for 125,000 homes.
>
>"The wind rush is on," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said.
>"We want to be No. 1. We want to attract the businesses that build the
>turbines, that build the blades."
>
>Some environmentalists said the spinning blades could kill countless
>rare birds that migrate through the area each year on their way to and
>from winter grounds in Mexico and Central America.
>
>"You probably couldn't pick a worse location," said Walter
>Kittelberger, chairman of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, an
>environmental group named for the strip of water between the mainland
>and Padre Island.
>
>John Calaway, Superior's chief executive, said the company would do
>everything possible to reduce the threat to migrating birds. "Of course
>there's going to be some mortality, but we don't think it will be
>significant," he said.
>
>Patterson said the wind farm would be situated off a remote,
>unpopulated part of Padre Island National Seashore. People who are
>concerned about the farm obstructing the ocean view "shouldn't have a
>problem," he said. "There's nobody there to look at it."
>
>The offshore farm is the second announced in less than a year for the
>Texas coast, joining 50 wind turbines planned off Galveston.
>
>Jerome Collins of the Sierra Club said his and other groups support
>wind energy and hoped to work with enery producers to prevent bird
>deaths and protect the scenic landscape.
>
>According to the American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. produces
>9,149 megawatts of wind power, enough to power 2.3 million homes
>annually. The largest U.S. wind farm is the Stateline Wind Energy
>Center on the Oregon-Washington line, producing 300 megawatts of
>electricity.
>
>The Texas announcement comes amid a bitter fight over a proposed
>130-turbine wind farm off Cape Cod, Mass., where residents fear the
>turbines will be unsightly.

If they keep the blade speeds down to those that the birds can judge
they should be alright, don't you think? Hurricanes contain as much
energy as the world's nuclear arsenal, IIRC. Of course the blade
speeds would be up but I think that birds avoid flying in hurricanes.

Why aren't they catching the methane coming from the melting
permafrost? The CO2 from burning it is less of green house gas than
the methane.


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