These Wind Turbines Need Diesel Generators and Often Draw Power Instead of Generating It... - Granite Grok

These Wind Turbines Need Diesel Generators and Often Draw Power Instead of Generating It…

Wind mills hoockes to fossil fuel supply

Aside from the hundreds of billions in misguided government support, wind power doesn’t have much going for it. It is not clean or green. It kills bats, birds, and now whales. And in Scotland, they’ve had to admit that without diesel generators to warm and back up the turbines, they might work at all.

 

Scottish Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after a fault developed on the grid.

The firm said it was forced to act in order to keep the turbines warm during very cold weather in December. But a whistleblower has told the Sunday Mail the incident is among a number of environmental and health and safety failings.

 

But wait! There’s More!

 

The worker said: “During December 60 turbines at Arecleoch and 11 at Glenn App were de-energised due to a cabling fault originating at Mark Hill wind farm. In order to get these turbines re-energised diesel generators were running for upwards of six hours a day.”

He also claimed there had been other technical issues and environmental problems discovered. They include:

  • Turbines left operating on half power for long periods due to faulty convertor modules.
  • Others in “test mode” where they take rather than contribute electricity to the grid.
  • Over 4000 litres of oil leaked from hydraulic units on turbines and sprayed over the countryside.
  • Concerns about safety standards and transparency.

The whistleblower said: “Turbines are regularly offline due to faults where they are taking energy from the grid rather than producing it, and also left operating on half power for long periods due to parts which haven’t been replaced.

“Dirty hydraulic oil is also regularly being sprayed out across the Scottish countryside due to cracks in mechanisms. Safety standards have not improved since a worker was killed in 2017 at Kilgallioch wind farm.”

Who among us dares to suggest that these concerns are more common than advertised everywhere wind frames are “planted” and have been for a very long time?

From the Institute for Energy Research (2015).

 

On October 4, the United Kingdom’s wind turbines produced almost zero electricity during the early morning hours. The UK has over 9,000 megawatts of metered wind capacity, but during that period on October 4, wind provided 66 megawatts—just 0.7 percent.[i] Many of these turbines are located either offshore or in the Scottish highlands, where wind is supposed to be the strongest. Because of the unreliability of these wind turbines (and solar farms), the UK government is subsidizing diesel generators over $670 million to provide back-up power.[ii] The country has 1,500 megawatts of diesel turbines registered for subsidies to provide that back-up power. The subsidies are so lucrative that solar farms are purchasing them to supply power when the sun is not shining.

 

As we drunkenly lurch Forward! (at gunpoint) toward the fantasy of a net-zero carbon 12th-century future, dare to ask what exactly the plan is to address these long-known systemic shortcomings. They will call you names and change the subject because, much like the path itself, they have no clue. No. Clue.

That’s what happens when you try to make energy science align with your political science. You get pushed off a cliff and told we’d learn to fly before we hit bottom while they watch from their fossil-fuel-powered comforts above.

 


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