Wind Turbines Generate Less Than 10% of Advertised Capacity (Not a Bakken Story)

You all know how I feel about wind power and solar power as being the answer to the energy needs of the United States.

We're starting to see some reporting exactly how efficient these two sources of power are. It's a bit tough to find the bottom line in this link, but it's there: the actual amount of energy produced by wind energy is less than 10% of its nameplate capacity.

Three years ago I did not know what "nameplate capacity" meant. This is one definition:

Nameplate capacity is the full-load continuous rating of a generator, prime mover or other electric power production equipment under specific conditions as designated by the manufacturer. Installed generator nameplate rating is usually indicated on a nameplate physically attached to the generator.

Basically, the nameplate capacity is the amount of electricity a generator is expected to provide.

To sell wind energy projects, sponsors had to maximize the nameplate capacity of their wind turbines. Common sense told me the numbers would be based on optimum conditions and would never reach their theoretical potential.

Well, the numbers are in and are much worse than even critics would have guessed, including me.

Wind power generators (wind turbines) are producing less than ten (10) percent of their nameplate capacity.

In some places, producing less than ten (10) percent of advertised would be considered false advertising or worse.

We get about ... 9.2% of the total installed capacity.  This is somewhat less than the 25-30% and beyond reported as the so-called “load factor” for wind power generation.

"Somewhat less" -- that's putting it mildly. I would say 9.2% is a significantly less than 25 - 30%.

Interestingly enough: during heavy windstorms, wind turbines are "feathered" -- disconnected from the generators to prevent damage to the equipment.

Here are some reasons given why wind turbines are turning out to be so inefficient:

• wind didn’t blow as much as planned
• there was too much wind too much of the time requiring the machines to be shutdown
• wind machines are not as efficient as thought
• electrical demand did not require using wind power machines–they used other generation machines and fuel
• a significant portion of the installed capacity is running but not connected to national grid
• the data being analyzed is wrong
• the analysis is wrong

Some opine that the numbers are even worse for solar energy. But the news is not all bad. Investors can make a lot of money off these scams.

For utility customers: wind energy will cost even more than expected. The folks in Boston who bought into the Cape Wind project are now finding that out. The state's attorney general is investigating.

Two things will help: increase the efficiency of the turbines themselves, and place them near government buildings where there is an excess of hot air blowing.

Updates

Update, November 2, 2010: The Pipestone, Minnesota, wind turbine factory is idled: No new orders. That says it all. Once this was one of the busiest wind turbine factories in the US but this sort of tells us where the wind energy is headed in this country. With regard to solar, solar energy is even more costly than wind and less able to supply meaningful energy answers for the US.