Seems to be the 2.3MW turbine, perhaps 10^7 kW-hours a year in a good location. That's about the same electricity
as burning 2 kilotons of coal a year by my reckoning. That's 7 times the mass of the whole turbine I think. Anyway
it repays its energy cost in perhaps weeks/months, not years.
When I have time I'm gunna have to look in to if this is even viable. I know the bandwagon thinks this is the future, but the bandwagon is usually wrong. Most coal plants are in the hundreds of MW and have little downtime.
I realize we will run out of fossil fuels. We will need something different in the future (fusion I hope). This just looks like an awful amount of work considering their low output is and the fact that 1/4 to 1/2 the times I drove past the turbines on I-65 in Indiana they weren't even turning.
W9GFO do you have links for those numbers from a scientific peer reviewed source?
Once I have real numbers it will be quick and easy to form an opinion. I cringe when topics that should be completely scientific become political and then "debated" by the 2 possible points of view.
Cool video either way. Love watching time lapses of big tasks like that. I was wondering how easy it would be to get that hub lined up. Particularly if they choose to build in areas with high average wind.
Slim Pickens ordered a bunch of these for a windy corridor in Oaklahoma, but discovered that to recapture the cost quickly you have to be adjacent to an national power grid (or at least a regional grid).
His location had all the wind one could desire, but the lack of a grid forced him to put all his wind mills elsewhere.
Three weeks completion isn't too shabby. Mostly the build rate is dictated by the cost of have that big crane on site. One can start out slow with the excavation and concrete if the weather is not quite right, but once the concrete cures - assembly from start to finish would be as quick as possible with everything needed on-site.
Banks like residential homes to be completed in 90-days. Usually bare ground to a completed structure with a complete exterior only takes about 3 weeks for a 3 man crew. After that the interior work, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, sheetrock, cabinets, and finishes occur at a more leisurely pace.
Ron Czapala
Posts: 2,418
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I think I have just watched them burn more fuel building that thing than it will ever produce it it's life time.
Good point - wonder how many years it takes to recover the cost...
Wow, those must be some magic weeds surrounding the pedestal at 2:29!
SWAG to follow;
Should make something like $6,000/day. If it operates only 25% of the time it is $1,500/day. Maybe three or four years.
as burning 2 kilotons of coal a year by my reckoning. That's 7 times the mass of the whole turbine I think. Anyway
it repays its energy cost in perhaps weeks/months, not years.
Jim
I realize we will run out of fossil fuels. We will need something different in the future (fusion I hope). This just looks like an awful amount of work considering their low output is and the fact that 1/4 to 1/2 the times I drove past the turbines on I-65 in Indiana they weren't even turning.
W9GFO do you have links for those numbers from a scientific peer reviewed source?
Once I have real numbers it will be quick and easy to form an opinion. I cringe when topics that should be completely scientific become political and then "debated" by the 2 possible points of view.
Cool video either way. Love watching time lapses of big tasks like that. I was wondering how easy it would be to get that hub lined up. Particularly if they choose to build in areas with high average wind.
I never knew how big these things were until I stood along side the mounting-end of a blade. The connecting bolts had the same diameter as my wrist.
:surprise:
His location had all the wind one could desire, but the lack of a grid forced him to put all his wind mills elsewhere.
Three weeks completion isn't too shabby. Mostly the build rate is dictated by the cost of have that big crane on site. One can start out slow with the excavation and concrete if the weather is not quite right, but once the concrete cures - assembly from start to finish would be as quick as possible with everything needed on-site.
Banks like residential homes to be completed in 90-days. Usually bare ground to a completed structure with a complete exterior only takes about 3 weeks for a 3 man crew. After that the interior work, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, sheetrock, cabinets, and finishes occur at a more leisurely pace.
Actually, that was T. Boone Pickens.