From: EvMick@aol.com
Date: Wed Jan 22 2003 - 20:53:24 MST
The cost of a kilowatt-hour of "wind generated" electricity has declined from
$.32 about ten years ago to about $.03 currently....and it's continuing to
drop. Right now only natural gas is cheaper.
So far I've been involved in several projects. One in Oregon, One in
Kansas, One in Iowa, One in Texas and one in California. By way of example
the texas one was at King Mountain near Macamey Tx. and was about 250
megawatts. Right now texas is second to california with over a thousand
megawatts of wind turbines....california has just shy of twice that.
For calender year 2003 I've heard that about another thousand is to be
installed nation wide. About 250 in eastern New Mexico which I intend to be
involved.
There are a number of web sites for anyone interested. For example the
American Wind Energy Association.
By the way....Denmark is the world leader in wind turbine manufacture. That
texas project i was on was entirely Danish....we hauled the whole she-bang
from Houston. Several hundred truckloads. (One complete Turbine requires
half a dozen or more trucks each......BIG trucks....I was grossing over 100K
lbs with a overall length in excess of 120 ft.)
Naturally I'm in favor of Wind Turbines. I'm making money off 'em.
Some are not.....for the oddest reasons too. (birds run into them...theyre
ugly...they only work when the wind blows....they interrupt the peace and
tranquility of the desert scorpion...)
I figure everything has advantages and disadvantages. If a wind farm only
produces 18 hours a day in West Texas (or 12....or 10...while the wind is
blowing)....then that means a coal fired plant down the road (with coal
imported by train from wyoming)....can be run at a lower capacity and pollute
less. (and the locomotives....NOT using low sulphur diesel....will also
pollute less)
I'll sacrafice a few burds for that.....
EvMick
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