If You Build It, They Will Spin

One of the bigger problems with fully utilizing large scale wind energy is that the wind isn't always so close to the loads.  That and the lack of line capacity in general. This is where there's wind to be had but no capacity left on the line to take it.  This happened during the "energy crisis" in California some years back.  Wind farms were shut down not because they didn't have wind but they lines were already full with energy being transferred.  This new project should help to eliminate that situation in the future.

So Cal Ed Begins Work on Wind Transmission Lines - Reuters - 07 Mar 08

"The Tehachapi Renewal Transmission Project aims to take wind power produced in a remote area called Tehachapi in Southern California to power customers all over the state through the state power grid.  If the full project is finished by 2013 as planned, it will be capable of carrying 4,500 megawatts of electricity, much of it from turbines in the windy Tehachapi area of northern Los Angeles County and eastern Kern County.  That is enough power to serve about 3 million California homes, said Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International."

Silence of the Fans in Insane Power Struggle - Sydney Morning Herald - 31 Mar 01

"But, even as California suffers its most disastrous power shortage, the Mojave wind farms are prevented from generating anything like their maximum outputs because of a combination of bureaucratic cock-ups and big business conspiracies. 

'You see those turbines over there,' says Mr Duggan's mechanical specialist, Michael Burns, motioning towards a row of turbines that are not spinning.  'They aren't broken. They are turned off. We had to shut them off because Edison [the utility company] doesn't have the transmission capacity to take all our power.'

Mr Burns does a quick mental calculation and says the farm could produce about 10 megawatts more per hour if it were allowed to operate to capacity.  'That is 240 megawatts a day, which is enough power generated every day on this farm alone to supply about a half a million homes with electricity to last them a month,' he says".

If You Build It, They Will Spin

One of the bigger problems with fully utilizing large scale wind energy is that the wind isn't always so close to the loads.  That and the lack of line capacity in general. This is where there's wind to be had but no capacity left on the line to take it.  This happened during the "energy crisis" in California some years back.  Wind farms were shut down not because they didn't have wind but they lines were already full with energy being transferred.  This new project should help to eliminate that situation in the future.

So Cal Ed Begins Work on Wind Transmission Lines - Reuters - 07 Mar 08

"The Tehachapi Renewal Transmission Project aims to take wind power produced in a remote area called Tehachapi in Southern California to power customers all over the state through the state power grid.  If the full project is finished by 2013 as planned, it will be capable of carrying 4,500 megawatts of electricity, much of it from turbines in the windy Tehachapi area of northern Los Angeles County and eastern Kern County.  That is enough power to serve about 3 million California homes, said Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International."

Silence of the Fans in Insane Power Struggle - Sydney Morning Herald - 31 Mar 01

"But, even as California suffers its most disastrous power shortage, the Mojave wind farms are prevented from generating anything like their maximum outputs because of a combination of bureaucratic cock-ups and big business conspiracies. 

'You see those turbines over there,' says Mr Duggan's mechanical specialist, Michael Burns, motioning towards a row of turbines that are not spinning.  'They aren't broken. They are turned off. We had to shut them off because Edison [the utility company] doesn't have the transmission capacity to take all our power.'

Mr Burns does a quick mental calculation and says the farm could produce about 10 megawatts more per hour if it were allowed to operate to capacity.  'That is 240 megawatts a day, which is enough power generated every day on this farm alone to supply about a half a million homes with electricity to last them a month,' he says".

Green Shirts?

Linking greens or ecologists as fascists or Nazis is something normally saved for the Rush Limbaughs of the world.  I suspect we'll be hearing them referencing books like this in the future.  Maybe Regnery can come out with a condensed edition or two for that market.  

Green, Brown and Bloody All Over - Haaretz - 07 Mar 08 (Book Review)

"In July 1935, Germany's Nazi regime headed by Adolf Hitler passed the Reich Nature Protection Law. It was one of the most progressive laws of its time. First of all, it was a federal law that applied to the whole country and not just a local ordinance, as had been customary in the past. It was also unprecedented in scope: The law protected nature and the environment in the name of the German people and for their sake, and prevented damage that might have been caused by economic development in undeveloped areas. Anyone whose actions were liable to harm nature or alter the landscape in any significant way, such as developers and building contractors, had to obtain permission from the Reich nature protection office."

Not to be left out, there's also a wind energy connection.  Hermann Honnef and Ulrich Hütter developed wind systems during the Nazi era.  Hütter's work was a major influence on post-WWII wind energy development especially NASA/ERDA's fledgling attempts in the 1970s.

Die Geschichte der Windenergienutzung 1890-1990 (The History of Wind Energy Utilization 1890-1990) by Matthias Heymann: a review by Paul Gipe - Wind-Works.org

"In a chapter provocatively titled 'Inventor or Charlatan: The Era of Big Wind Power Plants,' Heymann reveals his discovery of a damning telegram from Hermann Honnef to propaganda minister Goebbels pleading for a favorable word from Adolph Hitler on Honnef's proposal to build towering multi-turbine monstrosities."

"While there is no evidence that [Ulrich] Hütter was a Nazi, Ventimotor's origins are closely linked to Nazi party leaders, and the controlling figures in the company, Sauckel and Schieber, were leading Nazis. Heymann does not explore further the connection between Ventimotor and the Reich."

Green Shirts?

Linking greens or ecologists as fascists or Nazis is something normally saved for the Rush Limbaughs of the world.  I suspect we'll be hearing them referencing books like this in the future.  Maybe Regnery can come out with a condensed edition or two for that market.  

Green, Brown and Bloody All Over - Haaretz - 07 Mar 08 (Book Review)

"In July 1935, Germany's Nazi regime headed by Adolf Hitler passed the Reich Nature Protection Law. It was one of the most progressive laws of its time. First of all, it was a federal law that applied to the whole country and not just a local ordinance, as had been customary in the past. It was also unprecedented in scope: The law protected nature and the environment in the name of the German people and for their sake, and prevented damage that might have been caused by economic development in undeveloped areas. Anyone whose actions were liable to harm nature or alter the landscape in any significant way, such as developers and building contractors, had to obtain permission from the Reich nature protection office."

Not to be left out, there's also a wind energy connection.  Hermann Honnef and Ulrich Hütter developed wind systems during the Nazi era.  Hütter's work was a major influence on post-WWII wind energy development especially NASA/ERDA's fledgling attempts in the 1970s.

Die Geschichte der Windenergienutzung 1890-1990 (The History of Wind Energy Utilization 1890-1990) by Matthias Heymann: a review by Paul Gipe - Wind-Works.org

"In a chapter provocatively titled 'Inventor or Charlatan: The Era of Big Wind Power Plants,' Heymann reveals his discovery of a damning telegram from Hermann Honnef to propaganda minister Goebbels pleading for a favorable word from Adolph Hitler on Honnef's proposal to build towering multi-turbine monstrosities."

"While there is no evidence that [Ulrich] Hütter was a Nazi, Ventimotor's origins are closely linked to Nazi party leaders, and the controlling figures in the company, Sauckel and Schieber, were leading Nazis. Heymann does not explore further the connection between Ventimotor and the Reich."