Posted on 03/20/2014 6:40:02 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
Edited on 03/20/2014 6:49:11 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
ST. CLOUD, Minn.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ah, but the propeller on lil’ boy Obama’s beanie cap is whirling like a dervish!
Are you saying that our resident's thoughts are spinning in a tight circle?
“It’s another example of stimulus money going after bad projects that make no economic sense. The VA in St. Cloud shouldn’t be in the electricity business,”
Right after the thing as built, it didn't even work...
You probably noticed the St. Cloud Veterans Administration Medical Center’s wind turbine sitting idle and not turning as it was designed. It’s been an ongoing problem for the VA as they try to get the problem fixed….
VA Public Affairs Officer Barry Venable says the contractor, JK Scanlon Company of Falmouth, Massachusetts is working to correct the problems….
The VA’s National Contracting Office in Cleveland, Ohio is working to get the turbine online and producing electricity. When the $2.3-million wind turbine was built, it was expected to produce up to 15% of the St. Cloud VA Medical Center’s electricity. So far, Venable says the electricity it has produced has been negligible.
Venable can’t say when or if the wind turbine will work correctly.
Wind generation on this scale makes absolutely no sense. Never did, and that’s why all those turbines of similar size are sitting idle at Tehachapi. Utility scale wind is 4 to 8 times the size of this machine, and produce power at a cost that is on-par with other forms of generation, even without the PTC incentive (which is no longer in effect, having expired last December).
WOW! $2.3 Million Dollars for 15% of the electricity required to operate the VA facility, AND it doesn’t work.
Paybacks.
“Green” initiatives have had a bad name with me for a very long time. A prayer wheel purchased by an atheist is a far better investment than any of these boondoggles.
I hope they didn’t already pay the contractor.
M4L
How much of that 2.3 M could be used to clear up the 400+K of backlogged VA cases?
I wonder who JK Scanlon of Falmouth, MA is and how he/she got the contract to build this thing?
You would think that one of these JOURNALISTS would do a little research on this contractor. Also, who made this generator? GE, VESTAS or one of the Chinese companies? I would think they come with a warranty and some kind of company setup agreement for their price tag. You do not just buy a windmill, rent a crane and plug it in.
Ideally, the residents of said city might rise up and say "Hey! Wait a minute!"
I just had to laugh at the picture showing this little wind turbine located so close to a large building. What idiot could be so stupid as to locate a wind turbine (as you note, not even on scale to be productive) in such a location. Grew up near Tehachapi, that location has the wind but they built a lot of inefficient systems there - due to the tax incentives. As you note, a utility scale wind turbine is the way to go - at one point in my career I did work in Europe with these technologies - huge blades, low rotation rate with geared generators. The technology can be productive when put in the right place at the right scale - but this is a joke.
It's all about rewarding friends and punishing enemies....
After having dealt with two different Turbines in the past two years I wouldn’t have one put up on my Property if it was a gift.
Now a tracking solar panel array I’d consider.
The problem is that many Companies that jumped on the bandwagon to manufacture these things have gone Bankrupt along with the sources for parts. Before they did, they made sure they got connected to the Government (Approved) vendor list so in most cases once the funds were approved the list of "Qualified" vendors as stipulated by the Government were only a few.
Made in China?
maybe they can convert it into a clock tower, or sumthin. a bungy jump platform? a deer blind?
I think there are only 5 or 6 major manufactures of wind turbines in the world. Vestas Wind Systems out of Denmark and GE are the big ones.
The turbine/generator(the thing on the top), the blades and tower were probably built by one of these companies. The company out of Mass is just the contractor who put it up.
I can understand if the contractor went belly up. The manufacturer of the turbine itself is probably still around.
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