Posted on 05/22/2023 5:37:19 PM PDT by george76
Tell me again how wind power is so clean, efficient, and reliable?
Wind and solar already have to be subsidized. They cost even more if they are run properly, and they cost even more than that if you try and mitigate the environmental damage they cause.
Natural gas on the other hand produces so much energy so inexpensively that we can afford to sell cheap electricity and still have money left over to mitigate any environmental effects.
The only benefit of “renewables” is that they enrich politicians and their friends.
Think about it.
lol
It's time for an investigation into Big Wind.
So you’re saying that the device that generates power needs a separate power supply to operate the controls for the power generating device?
The initial subsidies in Spain for solar were so lucrative that the solar companies aimed giant spotlights at night to generate electricity from the panels. Solar used more power than was generated, but the subsidies were so lop-sided that they could easily afford to run the spotlights.
Controls voltage is what controls the (Machine name here). If there is a problem with the generator, reactor, or turbine, and systems need to open/close valves, produce compressed air for pneumatic valves controls, pump lubricants, pump hydraulic fluids, and control speeds, you're in deep doo-doo without control voltage.
Or here's an easier way to understand. "How do you start a generator turbine when the turbine isn't running"? How do you open and close circuits, run pumps, and governors, when the turbine hasn't started yet?
I believe that nuclear plants need external power to start up and run too.
No I get it. I work with machines of a different sort but they all have control panels to adjust different variables like speed, angle, pressure, cycles, trigger delay etc.
Makes sense that you need the control panel powered up to power up the power turbine generator. It just sounds bizarre. And you couldn’t really put them in series either you’d still need at least one power source to start the entire “farm” even if you could harness one to power up the next. With windmills I’m just guessing you need to control start/stop, angle of the turbines, gears, maybe rotation and motorized pivot to turn the entire mill towards the optimal wind direction - just off the top of my head. Probably 100 other things like sensors and safety triggers etc - things I don’t know since its out of my realm of specific expertise.
Fukushima was a huge anomaly.
The generators had fuel enough to run for weeks, but those tanks were washed away in the tsunami. The battery backup for the gensets worked exactly as designed and kept everything under control until the battery banks ran out of juice.
Nobody anticipated that there would not be power available for over three DAYS, let alone the weeks it took to get power there. Had the diesel tanks not washed away, we wouldn’t be having this discussion, it would have been a non-event.
Of course, I mentioned it merely for demonstration points regular folks could understand. Drama gets attention.
The main machine can't be stopped once it's at speed because it takes a half hour to stop. Any faster and you'll rip the footings right out of the foundation and have a steam loaded Yankee Dryer rolling down the nearest highway at 6,000 feet per minute. (about 60 miles per hour)
I immediately installed prove oil flow sensors into the start circuit. An example of auxiliary control circuits and their importance.
Great description. Powering automated control systems is important in ways many never think about or understand.
Needed a good laugh!
“Black start” of any power plant is the same.
Personally, I use 5W-30 in the winter, but maybe the pointy heads in Scotland never heard of that viscosity.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.