Posted on 09/29/2019 6:34:48 AM PDT by cutty
Michigan’s electric utilities gamble that the reliability of service won’t collapse.
Consumers Energy would have to double the number of wind turbines currently operating in this state to replace the electricity produced by just one of the coal- and gas-fired power plants it intends to close as part of its plans to rely more on renewable sources. The problem, however, is that those additional turbines only spin about one-third of the time, leaving a big energy gap for the households and businesses that rely on the company for their electricity.
..
regulated utilities and their vendors operate 1,107 industrial wind turbines in Michigan. These can produce 1,925.3 megawatts of electricity, but only when the wind is blowing.
Compare that to the Dan E. Karn generation plant in Bay County, which Consumers Energy plans shut down by 2032. Its four coal and two natural gas burners can produce up to 1,946.3 megawatts regardless of wind or weather.
Because the wind only blows intermittently, wind turbines in Michigan have a 36% capacity factor
...
But even that would not meet the need, because there is not enough variation in weather across Michigan to ensure that if turbine blades aren’t spinning in one area, they will do so elsewhere. When the blades are not spinning, Michigan’s utilities and the customers who rely on them would have to hope that utilities in other states have extra power available to sell at reasonable rates.
Coal-fired generators provided 37% of Michigan’s net electricity generation in 2018
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Michigan’s law regulating regional electric monopolies like Consumers Energy and DTE Energy guarantees them a return of around 10% on all their operations. Those operations include tearing down existing power plants and replacing them with new facilities, including renewable source generators.
(Excerpt) Read more at michigancapitolconfidential.com ...
Morons. Every single leftist, pie in the sky idiot, and their representatives. All morons. I cannot fathom the stupidity. Seriously.
I hope the nitwits enjoy the cold winters with intermittent power. Likely, taxpayers continue to subsidize these Don Quixote windmills. Yet another fraud on people to enrich already wealthy eco-losers.
To make a wind-generator effective, you need placement in a region that favors wind a great majority of the year. I could see this working in Colorado, Montana, and maybe Wyoming or along the east coast. The other fifty-percent of the US, you will get marginal pay-back with the wind business.
Follow the money :: electric ( Tax free ) monopolies like Consumers Energy and DTE Energy guarantees them a return of 10% on all their operations..
Huge new bonuses to the dear leaders
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2019/08/07/wind-turbine-blades-being-disposed-of-in-casper-landfill/
Where do dead windmills go?
Alas, the world is full of people who can't -or won't - tell water vapor from ash, etc.
Intermittent, not reliable wind mill turbines die in 20 years, their blades are not renewable, and
Just another reason I have to move from this state.
Just another reason I have to move from this state.
Go by one of these windfarms every year near Alma on our way to Grayling for our fly fishing trip. Have never seen more than half of them turning and it’s usually fewer. Not sure who produces the energy the idle ones aren’t producing.
Chasing windmills.
The green new deal means untold suffering for millions.
But, oh, the children must be listened to! /s
Probably more energy required to build and maintain those bird killers than what they produce in their lifetimes.
Doesn’t the left think that conservatives would be all in if the stuff worked?
DOH! Our much smarterer lie-geslators in NV have “commanded” that the state get at least 50% of the energy by renewable sources by 2030 and 100% carbon free resources by 2050. Not sure what the punishment is for not getting to the 50% mark but that’s a mere 11 years away and we’re all supposed to be gone by then anyway. Fookin’ idjits!
I also know a former grid operator and he told me wind sucks, that to shunt the power from a wind mill you actually need other sources to direct its flow. In effect crank up a wind mill turn on a gas peaker plant so the power is shunted to where it is needed.
When they aren’t turning, they are actually a net drain on the grid as they are using electricity to constantly search for a breeze
-——shut down by 2032-——
that’s a long time, enough time to replace the plant with up to the minute gas turbine genertors that have no wind reliability factor
hope that utilities in other states have extra power available to sell at reasonable rates.
And the answer is for theses other States to JUST SAY NO. We are abiding by your zero CO2 emission’s policy and will NOT contribute to increasing deadly greenhouse gasses in Michigan.
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