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New Wind Generators

Started by Ianab, July 05, 2020, 11:48:11 PM

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Ianab

Having lunch with Lil at the beach today and all sorts of flashing lights show up. 

Escorting a truck out of the Port "storage" yard. 

These things are HUGE, cant fit it on one picture.

This shows the whole blade, about 200 ft long I think. 

The blue frame in the middle of the picture is the rear support / trailer which is self powered / steered etc, and there must be ~100ft hanging behind that. Interesting rig to drive, especially though town. They can't bring it down the main highway though Stratford as it won't make it around some of the corners. They have to take the longer highway around the coast, and even then there are some tricky spots. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

thecfarm

Hugh is right. There was a bunch of blades parked in a gravel lot waiting to be hauled to the site where they was put up. The towers was brought in too. 
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

gspren

There is a wind mill "farm" proposed about 17 miles off shore of Ocean City, MD and there is a constant battle reported in the papers, the Mayor and town council want it moved further out so as to remove any chance of visibility while the company building it says that's where it needs to be to work. While the Mayor says it would be an eye sore that repels tourists I think many beach goers would enjoy seeing the windmills on the horizon, and on hazy days probably wont see at all.
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Southside

17 miles out, I don't think the NIMBS have much say at that distance.  
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farmfromkansas

There is a field of those windmills from Roxbury to Hope, in Marion county.  I can see the things from here, and some are over 20 miles from here.  Also, when you go from Salina to Hays, they start west of Salina, and go almost all the way to Hays.  What I hear of the cost, some nearly 3 million each, wonder how they ever make enough electricity to pay for themselves? 
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

peakbagger

I used to work for a manufacturer of mid size windmills. They sold to two primary customers, Alaska and Northern Canada as the design was "artic grade" and could be transported with readily available equipment and subsidized installations everywhere else. They even offered a option to turn the blades with power if the wind was not blowing enough as typically subsidized turbines are in high visibility areas. I think they even offered an option to only spin them in the day time.   Many of the big commercial installations are to supply state renewable portfolio standards. Frequently their production are set up as "must buy" to the utilities. They get a production tax credit so they can make money even if the wholesale market goes to zero or negative. Reportedly wholesale rates go to below zero frequently in Texas as the wind tends to blow at night and the power demand is during the day. Until large utility scale storage goes on line, large wind is usually subsidized in way shape or form. 

The limiting factor on size of wind turbines installed on the ground is the size of the cranes and the nacelles. Even with special hauling equipment and breaking the crane down in multiple pieces they just get to the point that they cant get the crane and the nacelle to the site. Offshore wind turbines do not have this limitation and there are some monsters being tested. 

The other issue in areas with icing is ice throw. If ice builds up on the blades it can release and go quite a distance. The ice chunk can do a lot of damage.    

Ianab

Each of these units is rated for 3MW, and generators in NZ generally can average 30-50% of their rated generation. NZ also generates most of it's power from large Hydro lakes, so they can take up the extra capacity when the wind isn't blowing, and store more water when it is. There is a limit to how much you can rely on wind power because you need full generator capacity fromn somewhere if the wind dies down. A full hydro lake gives that reserve. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

moodnacreek

Ianab, thanks for posting the huge prop. It is certainly interesting to see what other areas are doing to produce electric. Even more interesting is how much of the public is not interested now that energy costs have calmed down.

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: Ianab on July 08, 2020, 08:11:59 PMA full hydro lake gives that reserve.
The company I used to work for had a nearly full complement of generators: Steam (from underground steam reserves), small Combustion Turbine (jet engine) for peaking, Combined Cycle (Steam from gas burners that injected steam back into the engine) and Hydro.  There was a little solar in the mix as well.

When California formulated the new power grind (California Independent System Operator - CalISO) back in the late 90's, it became market driven.  One of our hydro plants was in an area that needed Var support and our hydro was a very, very fast acting unit.  When first bid into the market, we were always picked up and they were running the snot out of it - up/down/up/down.  Really hard on the equipment.  So we kept raising the price point and kept getting called.  Finally got to a ridiculous price that we were only called on at a reasonable level.  Made lots of money to pay for the future repairs/rebuilds...
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Just North-East of Sacramento...

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nativewolf

Wind and solar growth are just rolling along during all this pandemic, personally I find the wind mills very mesmerizing and don't mind them.  The ones they are starting to build in Europe are just huge, massive skyscraper sized things.  Then they are supposed to be coming out with floating platform ones, much like oil rigs.  

Someone asked how much do they make.  The new large ones can gross over a million plus a year at pretty cut rate prices.  But they are massively expensive too.  In the EU they are building these based on open market bids and bids are coming in lower than the price of the new Nuke getting built in England.  Many people think that nuke may never power up if the wind farms keep expanding and dropping prices below the price needed to simply run the nuk. 
Liking Walnut

gspren

Earlier I mentioned the proposed wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, and the controversy. I'm at the beach this week and todays paper has a new article saying the original turbines were 8 megawatts 17 miles out and now they are switching to 12 megawatts, Haliade-X, at 19-20 miles out with fewer needed. These are to be the largest available and there are still those opposed due to the view but I still think there will be just as many that enjoy sitting on the beach with binoculars and watching them turn. 
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Ljohnsaw

Quote from: gspren on July 31, 2020, 07:36:51 PM19-20 miles out
From what I remember about light houses, if they are up on a bluff with the light as high as 1,000' above the sea, it can only reach out about 17 miles before the curvature of the earth blocks it. That's assuming no fog.  A number of light houses out here are low to shoot under the fog/marine layer.  So, down on the beach, probably half that distance and it will be blocked from view.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

gspren

From what I've read in the local papers the 12 megawatt turbines would be 850+ feet in height and the Mayor wants them 26+ miles out, the closest proposed would be 19.5 miles. I think the tallest hotels are 10-12 stories and when 12 miles out fishing I don't think we could see them.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

Al_Smith

There is a huge wind farm near VanWert Ohio that goes to about the Indiana line .That ground is as flat as Kansas and has a fairly stiff wind constantly .I know from working in that area a power pole needs to be canted about 3 feet to the west which over about 2 years time will be perfectly straight from the prevailing west wind blowing across Indiana .

As for the rotor blades I've seen entire trains full of them .On rail transportation they use a couple of flat cars with special mountings so the cars can go through a curve .I think it takes a three car spacing .There is a section of side track about 2 miles from me where they often park those rotor trains all heading westward  bound .

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