Thread: The Hidden Costs of Installing Wind Turbines.

Originally Posted by p38arover

I suppose a farmer could drop it and leave it where it fell for future owners to worry about.

Could make an interesting fence? There is a company Recyling IF paid to do it I assume!! Vestas unveils circularity solution to end landfill for turbine blades

Suspect sites had some asbestos in wind turbine blades. I suspect its a bit waffly

Originally Posted by Xtreme

Visited a farmer friend in south western NSW recently where quite a few turbines are beig installed.
During conversation my eyes were opened to some interesting facts, especially in regard to installation costs.
One farmer was 'encouraged' to sell off all his stock (sheep & cattle) so that access to the installation site could be had by the workers and delivery trucks without the need to open and close the property gates! For this he will be paid $1.5M over a three year period.
Another was paid an undisclosed amount to allow right of way through his property for the delivery of oversize components that couldn't be taken via the public road.
And apparantly at the end of the turbine's expected 20 year life expectancy, the hosts (in this area mostly farmers) responsibility to remove and dispose of each turbine.

Does anyone have any idea how long it will take to recover the capital outlay and installation costs of these turbines?

The tenant is supposedly responsible..................... info here:

Decommissioning | Clean Energy Council

and here, with cost estimates:

Host Landowner Matters | aeic

cheers, DL

Originally Posted by 350RRC

The tenant is supposedly responsible..................... info here:

Decommissioning | Clean Energy Council

and here, with cost estimates:

Host Landowner Matters | aeic

cheers, DL

1. Most contracts would require the wind farm owner/operator which is leasing the land to remove the wind turbines and remediate the land at the end of the lease - the risk with that is that the windfarm operator goes broke and a new operator can't be found to take it to the decommisioning stage, but so far in Australia that hasn't happened. And I doubt that it could because it'd be a money-generating asset with no debts to pay off, as it's the original owners that took the haircut in the case I'm thinking of. In any case, if I was a landowner I'd happily have a turbine on my land for my own use - the question is what "worn out" means: if it's 50% of original capacity then that's still enough to run my AC and TV.

2. Turbines actually add value to properties because of the income they generate, which is also why banks/mortgagees are happy to approve the leases, And they don't really prevent farming continuing either, particularly grazing. Even better if you're paid to not have stock there ....

this surprised me a lot as I thought the WIND tech was very good.

"Wind Turbines Taller Than the Statue of Liberty Are Falling Over"

It may be growing pain due to ever increasing size.


Not Bankruptcy immune "“The wind business is not for the faint of heart,” Beth Soholt, director of the St. Paul-based trade group Wind on the Wires, said in an interview. “These are big energy facilities … It is a long-term contract with utilities that expect you to produce. A lot of things can go wrong.”" (2015!!)

A rather famous investor Warren Buffett is said to have suggested they are a great investment as the money inflow from Government He as proposed a 3.9 billion USD in the sector not for the revenue but for the incentives allegedly!.

A N.I.M.B.Y. protest in Port Fairy mixed wind with seismic testing! I am horrified by seismic testing in the whale rich area and would have been there had I noticed it was one!


Saw 6 + blue whales there a few weeks ago. Have seen hundreds of sperm and southern right whales as well as dolphins and seals in the oceans there. I know exactly what my SONAR pings did to anything close to the ship! I doubt any one can say seismic testing does no harm to marine life!

Back to wind issues. It is good where it fits. Its often decentralized adding significant cost for new transmission lines. Its energy densisty is rather poor, EROI is not in my view stand alone without significant other costs for supply when wind is not blowing or storage or waste when wind is great but demand is low. EROI is very very good for "Billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have chosen a remote town in Wyoming to build a new small nuclear power plant intended to help replace the coal-fired plants dotting the state."

Appreciate some government support is going to that side as well! Not here of course! Strong rumors that Denmark Wind is using biomass or diesel generators to meet contract obligation. DOOMBERG not me make me go HMMMM?

Scotland wind- Must be the haggis?

"Sixty turbines at Arecleoch Wind farm and 11 at Glenn App near Cairnrayn in South Ayrshire were affacted and connected to six huge diesel generators. The windfarms are operated by Scottish Power Renewables, a subsidiary of Spanish-based Iberdrola, which operates 1183 onshore turbines which can produce enough electricity to power two million homes."

I call total waffle in this statement "“For context, Scottish Power measures the availability of its 1183 onshore turbines and looks at the percentage of time each turbine is ready and available to produce green energy, in 2022 this reliability figure was 96 per cent.”"

Wind in Scotland is blowy most of the time! Not all of the time!

Story about dumped wind turbine blades in vic.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other...4294c51d2&ei=7

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

........................
I call total waffle in this statement "“For context, Scottish Power measures the availability of its 1183 onshore turbines and looks at the percentage of time each turbine is ready and available to produce green energy, in 2022 this reliability figure was 96 per cent.”"

.......................

The reliability figure is not the same as the 'co-efficiency factor' which is how much of nameplate capacity each wind farm is likely to put into the grid each year taking into account availability, location, etc.

Usually commercial in confidence.

The only list I've ever seen is below. It's years out of date and the 'new' turbines at the time were only 3.3 mW.

wind-farms-performance-copy-1024x513.jpg

Originally Posted by 350RRC

The reliability figure is not the same as the 'co-efficiency factor' which is how much of nameplate capacity each wind farm is likely to put into the grid each year taking into account availability, location, etc.

Usually commercial in confidence.

The only list I've ever seen is below. It's years out of date and the 'new' turbines at the time were only 3.3 mW.

wind-farms-performance-copy-1024x513.jpg

I re read it - It stated "each turbine is ready and available to produce green energy" A lot like the many I drive past a lot feathered and NOT generating- ready to but NOT

On the other hand a protest in a whale Nursery about Off shore wind plan for Warrnambool, Port fairy- Portland or I hope not in even nicer water to the west of those spots, has my back up