6 November 2011

41 more wind turbines for Lake George

6 November 2011 | johnboy

The ABC has news of planning approval for the Capital 2 wind farm project.

The Capital 2 wind farm project on the east side of Lake George in New South Wales includes an additional 41 wind turbines to generate power for the grid.

David Griffin from Infigen Energy says the expansion will be part of a proposed renewable energy precinct including a 50 megawatt solar farm, which was approved in December 2010.

“The two wind farms that are currently located there are 141 and 48 megawatts so there’s 189 megawatts installed there now,” he said.

“This new wind farm will see the addition of approximately another 100 megawatts so there’s a fairly significant increase in the capacity at that location.”

Wind turbines are awesome.

[Photo by Devil_n_Disquiz]

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Holden Caulfield4:11 pm 24 Nov 11

marcothepolopony said :

On my drive back I was astounded at the number of (live) magpies and parrots I saw in the surrounding paddocks.

Raptors are more likely to be affected by wind farms as their natural instinct is to watch the ground, not where they are going. Similarly they can be territorial and will fight each other to settle on their turf, so to speak. Worrying about 32m blades is generally not high on their agenda at such times.

Magpies and parrots, not so much.

I’m pretty sceptical about all this stuff too, but it is stuff the government is currently paying attention to.

marcothepolopony2:50 pm 24 Nov 11

On Sunday I was invited, by the property owners, to inspect the windfarm outside Canberra.

Always loved the look of them dotting the hill tops around, so magnificent, so I accepted with glee.
It was foul weather, with the westerly blowing the blades at 99% capacity.

A distinct sound, not unlike the rolling surf, could be heard up close to the towers. Three blades over 32 metres in length spinning rapidly is bound to make some sound, I found it energising and left the place feeling ‘amazed’ at its capacity and magnitude.

On my drive back I was astounded at the number of (live) magpies and parrots I saw in the surrounding paddocks.
If you get any opportunity to view a Wind Farm, take it – I’ve been there.

Erg02:01 pm 24 Nov 11

Solidarity said :

I’ve never seen them spin, so I dunno how they can create humming if they aren’t spinning.

The obvious fix for the humming is to teach them the words.

Solidarity1:45 pm 24 Nov 11

I’ve never seen them spin, so I dunno how they can create humming if they aren’t spinning.

Classified1:28 pm 24 Nov 11

realman said :

MUTE ARGUMENTS, ask the people living there under them, see/hear their answers and magic, you have the facts…. all this self indulgent argumentative dribble from people that live at least 50 k’s away, with very important opinions of course.

Yawwwwwwwn….

Deref12:49 pm 24 Nov 11

realman said :

MUTE ARGUMENTS

I can’t hear any of those.

poetix12:42 pm 24 Nov 11

This has to be one of the best photos ever on RA. Just beautiful. It gets better every time I see it, so I hope this thread keeps revolving for some time.

realman12:33 pm 24 Nov 11

MUTE ARGUMENTS, ask the people living there under them, see/hear their answers and magic, you have the facts…. all this self indulgent argumentative dribble from people that live at least 50 k’s away, with very important opinions of course.

chilli7:34 pm 08 Nov 11

peterepete said :

i think its a bit arrogant to dismiss all claims of adverse health impacts without evidence – we have some anecdotal claims that they are a hazard and they should be evaluated. The real problem with these is the increased rotational speed of the globe as a result of all these propellers spinning. It is shortening our days and will muck up our entire ecology – not to mention have you ever noticed how time seems to be speeding up over the years since these things started going up?

Anecdotes aren’t evidence. Latest edition of the MJA has an article from public health expert Dr Simon Chapman solidly dismissing all claims of ill health effects from wind turbines as a load of rubbish.

And I assume you’re taking the piss regarding the propellers’ effects on the earth’s rotation???

welkin315:47 pm 08 Nov 11

2604 – I see you asking – “It would be very interesting to know how much each MW/hr of energy generated by those turbines costs (including capital costs amortised over the course of each turbine’s life) and how it compares to market rates of green energy.

Would also be interesting to know how the cost of wind power compares to the cost of coal-fired power plus carbon offset plus capital costs.”

My experience is that it is usually very difficult to get true cost figures for anything touched by Green policy.

In this case though the owner of the Capital Wind Farm is INFIGEN ENERGY, listed on the ASX under the code IFN.
http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/companyInfo.do?by=asxCode&asxCode=IFN
You can download an 18/10/2011 Presentation to BBY Conference.
They own wind farms in the USA too.
This Yahoo page lets you chart the share price history for IFN;
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=IFN.AX+Basic+Chart&t=my
from early 2006 – and the decline in share price has been pretty severe – from ~$1.80 to 25.5 cents today. For sure IFN are not the only company to have been hammered on the ASX.
The Capital Wind Farm supplies the Kurnell Seawater Desalination water factory with renewable electricity – and there is an interesting tangle to the story there. Now I understand that the Kurnell can be shut down if Warragamba Dam goes over 80% full
NSW Greens MP John Kaye has pointed out that;
http://johnkaye.org.au/ofarrell-govt-forcing-households-to-pay-for-desal-sell-off
the O’Farrell Govt wants to privatise Kurnell – so they are happy to see Warragamba Dam stay under 80%.
http://www.eldersweather.com.au/damlevel.jsp?lt=state&lc=nsw
which you can see here the Warragamba level flatlining under 80%.

Three years ago the Labor Govt stopped routine transfers from the Shoalhaven to Warragamba Dam –
http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/news/ministerial-media-releases/sydney-cuts-reliance-on-shoalhaven-for-drinking-water—minister-phillip-costa-mp
Tallowa Dam (Shoalhaven) has been full for most of the last two years (select Tallowa at above Elders weather link) – spilling water to the sea – some of which could have been transferred to Warragamba.
So you see there are some complex interconnected goings on here mostly acting against the interests of Sydney water users.
Presumably if Kurnell was mothballed – taxpayers would still have to pay IFN for the power – but at least it could be put into the grid.
It seems that Sydney water consumers are saddled with the cost of Kurnell for evermore and the Sydney water utility will keep on spilling sufficient water to the sea to the extent needed to make Kurnell look necessary.

So to get right back to johnboy’s post about the planning approval for the extra 41 turbines. Taking into account the IFN share price trend – I doubt the extra turbines will sprout on the hills soon.

toriness10:33 am 07 Nov 11

AAMC said :

krats said :

Deref said :

peterepete said :

i think its a bit arrogant to dismiss all claims of adverse health impacts without evidence – we have some anecdotal claims that they are a hazard and they should be evaluated. The real problem with these is the increased rotational speed of the globe as a result of all these propellers spinning. It is shortening our days and will muck up our entire ecology – not to mention have you ever noticed how time seems to be speeding up over the years since these things started going up?

😀 Gold.

I think they’re elegant structures. Something I’ve been wondering, though, is what happened to the vertical turbines that were reported to be more efficient as well as cheaper to build and maintain. Does anyone know?

They Were Found To Cause Fading Of Curtains And Chop Up Birds!!

From memory vertical turbines are only more efficient once rotating but require kick starting via an auxiliary power source (think starter motor or pump priming); where as a ‘traditional turbine simply turns into the wind and begins to rotate once the sufficient wind speed is achieved.

So I assume that the traditional turbine is a smarter economic position – less infrastructure, more reliable, minor compromise on operating efficiency, etc.

it’s been a little while since i worked in the energy space but wind turbines are not used as baseload power – they are more used for peak ‘filler’ when baseload isn’t enough to satisfy demand. so yes they are kickstarted as a fast energy source – coal-fired generation facilities are going all the time because once they are powered down, they actually take days to restart.

as for current wind turbines not being that fabulous in terms of efficiency/ROI – they are an emerging and improving technology so one would think they’d improve in efficiency (tech improvement through R&D) and ROI over time. if we’re serious about moving towards renewables (and we have to be, let’s really get serious!!) then there will be some hit and miss to start with but the investment is worth it for our long term future.

and i still maintain they look stunning. i’d be happy to live right underneath one!

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