Letter to Yolo County Supervisors

Dear Supervisor,

I am very concerned about the possibility of the installation of a very large wind power plant in northern Yolo County.  I am specifically concerned about the power plant(s) in that location because it will directly impact the lifestyle and personal well being of me, my family and my friends.  However, the topics covered herein apply to large wind power plants anywhere in the State or the Country (or the world).

The first, and most obvious, problem with these very large industrial installations has to do with their significant negative environmental impacts.  However, while this issue is extremely important, it is not the topic of this particular letter.

My concern in this letter is that it has been shown through theoretical studies and actual measurements of performance that large wind power plants do not accomplish what is claimed of them.  The claim is that large wind turbines will result in a reduction of the use of fossil fuels and a reduction in CO ₂ emissions.  In reality, they do neither once they reach a penetration (the total generated power on the grid from wind) of above about 5%.   California is currently at about 5% penetration, and is slated to get much higher very soon.

The problem has to do with technical issues associated with the impacts of large amounts of highly variable power on the grid.  One of the main issues has to do with needing to ensure that there is enough standby power available to replace wind generated power when the wind speed drops rapidly, or when it increased beyond the maximum for the turbines in which case the turbines will be instantly shut off.  The grid is resilient enough to withstand this variation as long as it is less than about 5% of total grid power.  Above that, significant infrastructure changes must be made to ensure that the grid design can safely accommodate the fluctuations.  These charges are currently feasible up to a maximum of about 10% penetration, beyond that it is anticipated that the grid will become unstable and may be subject to widespread blackouts because of the wind power sources.  The only known way to accommodate that problem is to curtail wind generation (turn off the turbines!) during periods of high winds or storms.

In order to accommodate large amounts of wind power, the utilities will need to be run in a much less efficient mode, so much so that it has been shown that not only will it take as much (or more) fossil fuel to operate the wind than if it was not connected to the grid at all, but it will do it in a much dirtier fashion, producing more CO₂ than without the wind.  The grid would use less fossil fuel, and result in fewer emissions, using conventional sources without the presence of wind power plants.

According to a report obtained through the freedom of information act from the USA energy market analysts BENTEK, “wind has no visible influence on fuel consumption for electricity production and the emission of CO₂ in the atmosphere is not reduced.”  The same result has been obtained by numerous other studies that look at the total system impact of large wind turbine power plants.  This means that large wind power plants do not meet the assumed goals of reducing the use of fossil fuels or of lower the emissions of CO₂.

On first look the idea that such huge machines don’t produce a net energy benefit seems to be counter intuitive, and does not align with what we keep hearing about countries such as Denmark producing 40% or more of their power with wind.  Actually, Denmark does produce that much wind power, but it is not used within their country beyond the 5% penetration.  In their case, they happen to be connected with several other European countries that produce enough conventional power to accept the additional wind power.  Denmark is a net exporter of wind generated power, but does not offset its own use through wind power.

Not only do wind power plants fail to reduce fuel use or emissions, they do so at a very high cost in terms of government subsidies, tax shelters, and increased utility rates for all customers on the grid, not just those who purchase wind power. 

This is not the worst part of the installation of large wind power plants.  The worst part is that the ability of the grid to accept variable inputs is a “zero sum game.”  The part that is used to support wind power cannot be used by other variable power sources (such as solar).  Once wind power plants reach a penetration of about 10% they will eliminate the ability to use other options, such as roof top solar or other distributed power sources.

I have done a lot of research on this topic, including talking to many of the nation’s top renewable energy experts.  There is a much better alternative that will actually reduce our country’s use of fossil fuels, dramatically reduce emissions, and at the same time will greatly reduce, rather than increase, the cost of electricity.  This source of power is distributed (net metered) photovoltaic power.  Right now, with the current technologies and current prices, this approach can easily reduce the 25 year cost of electricity by more than 85%!  Power from large wind will increase the cost of power by more than 130%.  There is far more available space on rooftops, parking lots and similar locations to provide ALL of the power needs of the county, produced in the immediate location where it is used.   There are no locations in the country where PV solar is not feasible and highly affordable.

Most reports, advertisements, and information that is available on the subject of wind power focus on the feasibility of using wind to produce power, not on the question of which approach is the best for our country and the customer.  Wind is technically feasible with a penetration of less than about 10% (but may cause substantial grid instabilities beyond that).  However, even at the low penetration levels it produces little net power and is not financially feasible without substantial and ongoing subsidies of various types.  Large wind power also comes with major negative environmental impacts.  On the other hand, distributed (roof top) solar is both technically and financially feasible, and creates few overall environmental impacts with almost no local environmental impacts beyond customers having much lower power bills and an increase in the local job market.

Much has been said about renewable energy creating many new jobs.  The installation and operation of large wind power plants will have little, or no, impact on the local job markets because almost all of the labor will consist of specialists working for the developer, brought in for a very short temporary installation period.  On the other hand, distributed solar will use a lot of local labor during the extended installation and maintenance phases, likely stretching out for many years.  For example, it is almost certain that companies will spring up to periodically wash the solar panels, and to maintain or repair systems when they (rarely) fail to perform up to their expectations.

A question that is often asked is, “If it is true that wind does not provide energy or emission benefits, why would developers and the utilities be promoting them so hard?”  This is a good question, one that is not answered in the open literature.  My thoughts on this are that they have different goals than to reduce fossil fuel use and emissions.  I think that their goal is to make more money.  They have found ways to make more money through subsidies and rate increases, which meets their goal even though it does not meet the goals that we should have as a nation toward energy independence and protection of the environment.

I understand that there is a lot in this paper that is hard to comprehend and understand.  The reason is that the technical issues are complex, requiring a significant amount of description to fully understand how and why these results come about.  I can’t accomplish that in a relative short letter such as this, but I would be more than happy to provide much more detailed information on any of the topics touched upon to you individually, to the supervisors as a group, or by creating a much more detailed paper on the topics in the hopes that it could bring a better understanding of the issues.  I am offering to do that free of charge because I believe it is such an important issue.  I am not in this for personal gain; I am doing the research and writing papers such as this letter because I am concerned that the County, State, Nation and world is heading down a path that will turn out to be extremely costly, creating much environmental destruction, while blocking the options that we should be implementing.