What is behind the hatred of wind power? Here in NJ it is a combination of NIMBYs and WEF conspiracy kooks. Oppose only if government funded. If not, keep building those windmills.
It’s not wind power per se, it’s the offshore that bothers people. And, for many reasons.
I'm somewhat agree. When my wife and I visit on or near the ocean coasts, I sometimes think that if I lived there I'd probably set up a few pico wind turbines for my home to reduce my power bill. But that's from a free market perspective. Not the govt mandated or govt subsidized perspective like the Dims push it.
Its because they would not be built without government subsidies. They are very maintenance heavy. Then the blades wear out after a certain lifespan and they bury them in the ground.
Plus, they only generate electricity when the winds are blowing between 15-30 MPH.
Too high, and they turn off. Too low, and they don’t turn.
I owned stock in Vestas Wind Systems out of Denmark a while back. It doubled and I sold it.
Offshore might be the -best- idea for wind power, for that mitigates many of the aesthetic objections, but the economic and maintenance issues still remain. The article itself highlighted some economic factors (including that new geothermal techniques are markedly cheaper and provide 24/7 power), but there’s efficiency issues and just the logistics of doing maintenance 30+ miles off shore is a bit daunting.
There’s also the problem of spacing: you can’t pack in these giant turbines like you would solar panels, for instance: there’s a ‘prop wash’ issue where the wind is disrupted coming off each turbine location. So if you want a lot of energy yield — like NY apparently does — then miles of real estate (or ocean estate) is needed... which only adds to the problems of logistics.
Wind generated power is 1) unnecessary, 2) too expensive, 3) destabilizes the grid and 4) ends up being paid for by taxpayers who don’t want or need it. And offshore wind will destroy ocean fishing grounds, plus driving the whales onto the beach, and probable extinction. Other than that I can’t think of a thing wrong with it.