The Windless Machine - Industrial Disease on the Indiana Plains

The hypocrisy of "Green Energy" and wind generation has reared its blight again. More windmills are proposed for Howard County and for Grant County. It seems the government, who thinks it knows more than its citizens, and thus absolutely MUST take the citizens money to spend on subsidies for the folly of Wind, is back at it.

Perhaps government involvement via regulations, taxes, and all manner of interference in our lives feels compelled to make pristine Indiana (and Ohio, and other parts of the USA heartland) into a future Industrial Wasteland.

It brings to mind, a song from a great and popular band, Dire Straits - "Industrial Disease"
>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAPDQdHqCY

And disease it is. A blight for the eyes. As one drives from the east toward Brookston, you can see the wind turbines towering above the town. The turbines are on the other side of town; they are that imposing, and annoying.

Northwest of Lafayette, Indiana there are two wind farms, Fowler Ridge, and Meadow Lake. The weather affecting these was discussed in a previous post, Joe Donnelly, the Windy Machine along with the close by wind machines at City Bus in the post, A fortune Blown away, DC Donnelly Wind Machine II

Here is some more on the Meadow Lake wind farm. There are two videos about a week apart, along with the wind data for a week. Noting that we need at least 7-10 mph wind to begin the lower end of the production of electricity, one can safely assume not much was generated for an entire week. The taxpayer subsidy was  hard at work though, making up the difference.

Meadow Lake Windmills 5/21/2013
Plenty of wind. Not much of anything going on. All that investment....for nothing.
You can hear the wind hitting the camera, moving the grass and trees around. And the windmills are turned off. This video taken at the southern edge of the wind farm so is less than a 360 degree look.

Meadowlake Windmills 5/25/2013
Nothing going on here. All that investment for.....nothing.
This video taken in the middle of the wind farm, a full 360 degree pan of the wind farm.

Here is the weather report of the wind all day long on 5/25/2013, the day of this video.

And for completeness, here is:
5/22/13

5/23/13

5/24/23

5/26/13

5/27/13

5/28/13

So in an entire week, the ONLY period that added to worthwhile generation, amounts to perhaps 4 hours.

If that were not bad enough, let's look at just how the wind generated electricity matches up with our lives.

This chart shows the electric load for AEP in day's period. AEP was used because Fowler Ridge and Meadow Lake wind farms connect to AEP.  And the wind generation is shown for PJM, which AEP is a part of. So  yes, the comparison is not perfect, it is parts of parts etc. But what we are looking for  is still evident from the chart. And the conclusion to draw is this:

• The electric demand decreases in the evening, after some businesses and factories close for the day, and people finish up with dinner.
• The electric demand continues to decline to a low point in the early morning hours, and then starts a climb to its mid-day peak as people are at work.
• Wind energy knows no timetable. It may be increasing generation when the demand is falling. And decrease generation when the demand is increasing.
• This means that coal, oil, nuclear, and such dependable sources of generation cannot be downsized as wind generation installations are made.
• It also means that dependable generation is whipsawed, like a yo-yo, to meet the fickle generation cycles of wind. This leads to inefficiencies in the operation of the large generators as they are all designed to operate at top efficiency when running under full loading.
• Using wind energy is like herding cats. You just cannot predict which cat is going where, or if it is going at all.
• Government funding of wind generation is also like feeding stray cats. If you feed them to get them to stay, they have no reason to catch their own mouse and feed. This is a game you cannot win. But remember, the government is smarter than you are.....or so they think.

And yes, your previous Senator Lugar supported this madness. And despite the efforts of good and knowledgeable people in Indiana, Senator Lugar refused to support a real Republican and Conservative, Richard Mourdock and instead we got Joe Donnelly, who firmly supports big government, crazy ideas like wind energy, and massive government bailouts and subsidies.

And .... Industrial disease and blight on our Indiana prairies. 

It is time to stop the madness. Write, call, fax, talk to neighbors, have meetings, and get your local county, city, and state officials to stop the encroachment of Big Brother in our lives.

And for another view, here is a similar chart from last year.