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Are wind subsidies a price worth paying?

The capital cost of windfarms isn't limited to the turbines, there's also the switchgear, transformers, etc plus the installation and cabling. Factor in running and maintenance to get a whole of life cost. Then you can take account of how much energy is generated, bearing in mind how often the wind blows, its direction and the times power is available but not required (middle of Saturday night is an extreme example) Divide total KWHs by total life cost and you get a silly number that nobody can afford. Until there's a method of large scale energy storage developed windpower is a financial disaster (except for the equipment mfrs and energy companies of course)

2 May 2012

1:09 pm