◊ Part of the ‘wind energy’ series of articles ◊
One of the most obvious geographic factors in the production of wind energy is the prevailing wind pattern. Areas which experience wind velocities in the range for turbine energy production for the maximum amount of time will provide the best return on investment and presumably the lowest production cost.
Meteorological data can be used to determine optimum wind farm location and provide insight into capacity factors. For Canadian data there is the Pan-Canadian Wind Integration Study (PCWIS) report prepared by GE Energy Consulting for CanWEA.
It is believed that offshore wind has more consistent speed and direction than onshore although I won’t be presenting specific data to support that supposition.
An overlooked geographical factor that is difficult to quantify relates to grid architecture and where wind energy is injected.
In Ontario, wind farms are located where proponents choose to build them rather than where the grid would benefit most from having them.
The resulting energy losses and operational constraints limit the useful capacity and efficiency of wind energy.
Wind energy requires a great deal of space and is best suited to rural areas. The land occupied by wind farms may be shared with agricultural functions such as livestock and crops. There is no way to avoid the cost associated with the large area required. In most cases the land will be leased from property owners under a long-term agreement which may based on area and energy output.
According to the wind energy organization ‘Culture Change’ the space required to generate electricity is approximately 50 acres per MW. A single unit at the Darlington Nuclear Station has a generating capability of 880 MW. Replacing a single Darlington unit with wind would require 44,000 acres of space. Given the very low capacity factor of wind you would need 4 to 5 times that much wind capacity to match the energy output of a single generator unit at Darlington. That would be as much as 220,000 acres or 890 square kilometers of space. That’s larger than the city of Toronto.
The peak demand in Ontario for 2017 was 21,786 MW. In order to meet that peak it would require 22,000 square kilometers of space for wind farms. That’s roughly the size of the Golden Horseshoe in southern Ontario. It would be hard to imagine the real-estate cost associated with occupying that space.
When you grasp the scale of the area requirements for wind generation it will become apparent that it is only be suitable for rural areas which are quite far from significant loads. The greater the distance between generators and load, the greater the losses and lower the real power delivery to customers.
In some cases there will not be sufficient delivery infrastructure to move the energy from the rural areas where there is very little load to the higher density areas where the energy is needed.
When the renewable energy programs were initiated in Ontario a decade ago many applications from generators wishing to locate in the Bruce Peninsula were put on hold until transmission lines were upgraded to accommodate the power flow toward the greater Toronto area.
Ratepayers wind up covering the cost associated with the large area and remote location associated with wind energy
Derek
Previous article… Delivery infrastructure upgrades
Next article… Grid power flows
The changes in micro climate that these windfarms have created in southern ontario have not been included or even addressed as usual the farmers and local biosphere will suffer the long term effects of the short minded results of these greedily ill conceived mega projects.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article John. I mention the climate issue in my Environment and human health article in this series.
The problem with this subject is finding definitive evidence from a reliable source to reference. There is no doubt that wind turbines take energy from wind and therefore alter the natural environment. The challenge is to weigh the impact against benefit. That debate is ongoing and certainly worth pursuing.
Every form of electricity generation impacts our natural environment.
It is our responsibility to respect nature and make sustainable decisions about how we impact it.