Wind Generation

[dodge man]

My understanding is the wind turbines are made in the US.

 

[workinonit]

I think what you will find is most of the structural components are made in the US because of the size and shipping but the electrical components will tend to be foriegn. Even US companies have manufacturing facilities in China and Europe.

 

[jyoutz]

Ask the Euro countries in a few months how closing all their nukes, going green too soon and hitching their wagon to Putin's pipelines is working out for them. I have no real issue with having wind turbines and solar farms. It's kinda like putting accessories on your tractor. They look good, make you and everyone else feel better but when work gets really serious they are turned off or not used. Those Euro countries will find out really quickly that the wind don't blow all the time and the sun don't shine as much as they thought it did. It'll hit home when the oil runs out and they are sitting in the dark. They will be exactly where we don't want to be but our president and leaders are trying their hardest to take us. Hopefully if nothing else comes out of WWIII this country will get an eye opening.

Nobody installs wind and solar with the intent of them being the only power source. The best backup to those are gas plants that can be fired up and operating very fast. Any modern power grid is going to have a mix of renewables and other sources. It’s hard to understand some of the posters here who get their panties in a bunch over sensible clean and renewable energy. Our grandparents were smart enough to pump livestock water with renewable wind energy over a century ago.

 

[sea2summit]

Every time I try wind generation my wife tells me to open a window.

 

[Tinhack]

I think what you will find is most of the structural components are made in the US because of the size and shipping but the electrical components will tend to be foriegn. Even US companies have manufacturing facilities in China and Europe.

A few years ago, I think the blades were being made in Mexico. Hundreds of trucks past here headed North on I-35. Every time I went to the grocery store there were trucks passing on the highway carrying a single blade. Don't recall seeing any of the towers though. If I recall correctly, that was the same year drivers from Mexico were allowed to haul across the boarder. Caused a big stink down here.

By the way, those blades are HUGE!

 

[Tinhack]

Oh yeah, another tid-bit of info--Back around ~2010, a study was done on this section of I-35 (South of San Antonio) on the number of trucks using this route. I think the study was done to analyze the best way to handle maintenance. At that time there were over 14,000 trucks per day using this stretch highway.

 

[workinonit]

"Our grandparents were smart enough to pump livestock water with renewable wind energy over a century ago."

I'm sure that didn't come about because they didn't have power or had no feasable way to get it to where the livestock was located. I don't know. What I can say is that in our part of the country as soon as power came along windmills and pitcher pumps disapperaed.

I'm not even going to address your comments about the intentions of the "people" forcing wind and solar down our throats in an attempt to try and replace nuclear and coal generation.

 

[oosik]

Down south of me - where Cougsfan lives - wind generators are sprouting up like mushrooms. Every time I make a great loop down south - another wind farm. Right now our local Co-Op electric utility is getting 10% of its power from wind farms.

 

[jyoutz]

A few years ago, I think the blades were being made in Mexico. Hundreds of trucks past here headed North on I-35. Every time I went to the grocery store there were trucks passing on the highway carrying a single blade. Don't recall seeing any of the towers though. If I recall correctly, that was the same year drivers from Mexico were allowed to haul across the boarder. Caused a big stink down here.

By the way, those blades are HUGE!

I think there are multiple sources in North America for these components.

 

[jyoutz]

"Our grandparents were smart enough to pump livestock water with renewable wind energy over a century ago."

I'm sure that didn't come about because they didn't have power or had no feasable way to get it to where the livestock was located. I don't know. What I can say is that in our part of the country as soon as power came along windmills and pitcher pumps disapperaed.

I'm not even going to address your comments about the intentions of the "people" forcing wind and solar down our throats in an attempt to try and replace nuclear and coal generation.

Coal is obsolete and it was made obsolete by simple economics. It costs more than abundant and much cleaner natural gas turbine power plants. Coal requires mining, trucking, railroads, handling at the plant, frequent plant cleanup and disposal of toxic waste. Natural gas comes to the plant by pipelines and the plants require far less maintenance and no toxic waste disposal. Power companies don’t want to screw around with coal plants anymore. In my state, the largest power company is converting their largest plant from coal to gas. They announced that this conversion will save $10-15 million annually in operating costs. Enough of this blaming government for the demise of coal. It’s dirtier and costs more than a more plentiful alternative and power companies are making good business decisions. Also, the current generation of renewables is close to being cheaper than coal generation.

 

[workinonit]

Even with gas at it's very lowest it didn't trump coal by very much. Once the majority of the coal fired plants are forced to shut down and gas prices soar the US will find out why we don't want coal plants closed. It's always a smart economic move to get all of your eggs in one basket. You hate coal generation and I take a more pragmatic view. I feel we need to remain diversified so it doesn't bite us in the butt like what's about to happen in Europe. I'm pretty sure coal isn't obsolete. Most of the plants I work at still have some pretty large coal piles.

 

[jyoutz]

Even with gas at it's very lowest it didn't trump coal by very much. Once the majority of the coal fired plants are forced to shut down and gas prices soar the US will find out why we don't want coal plants closed. It's always a smart economic move to get all of your eggs in one basket. You hate coal generation and I take a more pragmatic view. I feel we need to remain diversified so it doesn't bite us in the butt like what's about to happen in Europe. I'm pretty sure coal isn't obsolete. Most of the plants I work at still have some pretty large coal piles.

Coal is rapidly becoming obsolete because:
1. Old plants are being decommissioned or converted to gas
2. No new coal plants are planned or being built

Power companies are concerned about their bottom line and yes it does beat coal by a lot. As I mentioned, one plant is planning to save $10-15 million annually by converting to gas. That’s a lot in my world. It’s not just the cost of the raw fuel; gas plants are extremely cheap to run and maintain.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The coal fired plants we had in Oklahoma, were built some time ago, and burned "clean" Wyoming coal. They emit absolutely no visible emissions, due to their control technology, but do have all of the ash to dispose of.

 

[jyoutz]

The coal fired plants we had in Oklahoma, were built some time ago, and burned "clean" Wyoming coal. They emit absolutely no visible emissions, due to their control technology, but do have all of the ash to dispose of.

Just because you don’t see smoke belching from the stack doesn’t mean that mercury, sulfur dioxide and other nasty toxins aren’t in the exhaust.

 

[Raul-02]

Does anybody think they put these things up and didn’t hook them up?

It is almost without question that there are plenty of people who entertain ideas like that.
They can be found by the score on the internet.

 

[SandburRanch]

Coal is rapidly becoming obsolete because:
1. Old plants are being decommissioned or converted to gas
2. No new coal plants are planned or being built

Power companies are concerned about their bottom line and yes it does beat coal by a lot. As I mentioned, one plant is planning to save $10-15 million annually by converting to gas. That’s a lot in my world. It’s not just the cost of the raw fuel; gas plants are extremely cheap to run and maintain.

Where you get that information that gas plants are cheap to run and maintain , hardly ? 30 years ago i operated and maintained a gas compressor booster station that had 13,000 horse power running balls to the wall 24/7 . What's there today , one 1,000 HP Waukesha engine with a 3 stage compressor . We're basically out of N G because , well there was 2 consecutive administrations that wanted to bankrupt all petroleum companies and the one now is being given daily instruction by a former administration . Reminds me of the elect. car on the interstate having batteries charged by a gas truck pulling a trailer loaded with a diesel generator .

 

[BravoXray]

Back in the 60s and 70s I hauled a lot of cinders out ot the Twin Branch coal fired generating plant in Mishawaka, IN. Once a week, on Wednesday, I think, they would load the cinders they washed out of the boilers into a holding area with an old Bantam dragline truck crane. I think a tandem dump truck load was about $10, so we paid to get rid of their waste and dump it in people's driveways.

 

[MossRoad]

Back in the 60s and 70s I hauled a lot of cinders out ot the Twin Branch coal fired generating plant in Mishawaka, IN. Once a week, on Wednesday, I think, they would load the cinders they washed out of the boilers into a holding area with an old Bantam dragline truck crane. I think a tandem dump truck load was about $10, so we paid to get rid of their waste and dump it in people's driveways.

I forgot they had a power plant there. I always associate it with the dam only.

 

[jyoutz]

Where you get that information that gas plants are cheap to run and maintain , hardly ? 30 years ago i operated and maintained a gas compressor booster station that had 13,000 horse power running balls to the wall 24/7 . What's there today , one 1,000 HP Waukesha engine with a 3 stage compressor . We're basically out of N G because , well there was 2 consecutive administrations that wanted to bankrupt all petroleum companies and the one now is being given daily instruction by a former administration . Reminds me of the elect. car on the interstate having batteries charged by a gas truck pulling a trailer loaded with a diesel generator .

I have no clue what you are talking about, but the reason that I know that natural gas is cheaper is because the power companies have said this. I assume that these companies understand the economics of power generation. We have had multiple feature stories in newspapers where local power companies have stated the big cost savings of coal plant conversion to gas. And you are speaking absolute nonsense about being out of natural gas. This is one of the most abundant energy resources in America and my state is the number 2 producer. Petroleum companies are doing quite well at this time, and my state has a $1.6 billion budget surplus this year due to oil and gas drilling revenues. The industry has made statements that there is a 2-300 year supply of untapped natural gas resources in America. And yes the oil companies are drilling and piping this gas at this time, unlike misinformation to the contrary.

 

[jyoutz]

Back in the 60s and 70s I hauled a lot of cinders out ot the Twin Branch coal fired generating plant in Mishawaka, IN. Once a week, on Wednesday, I think, they would load the cinders they washed out of the boilers into a holding area with an old Bantam dragline truck crane. I think a tandem dump truck load was about $10, so we paid to get rid of their waste and dump it in people's driveways.

Nowadays those cinders are considered to be toxic waste full of mercury and they must be handled and disposed of as hazardous waste.