MORE WIND

The Swedish State Power Board has just concluded a study on wind power for central generating stations. The conclusions are reminiscent of a similar study made by the City of Seattle some time ago.

Based on 10 years of wind statistics, the Swedish board found that 1500 towers, each 120 ft high and each costing from $1.5 to $2 million, would be required to provide the same power as a single nuclear plant. The electricity produced from the wind-driven generators would cost from three to four times more than nuclear power.

Wind power has a number of serious drawbacks, all adding up to a lot of money for little power. With a few geographical exceptions, there is simply not enough wind around to use it for large-scale energy conversion. Nor are windmills very attractive for domestic use. The random velocity of the wind requires energy storage facilities which are space consuming and none too easy to maintain; and quite apart from "visual pollution" issues, not every home has enough space to put up a 30 ft tower with a 15 ft windmill (corresponding to 10 kW at reasonable windspeeds), which would produce enough to run the electric appliances of a modern home, but not to heat or cool it as well.

Perhaps worst of all, wind power is proportional to the third power of the wind velocity, which roughly amounts to saying that at low velocities, the generator provides very little power, and at high velocities the whole thing is liable to get blown down unless complicated countermeasures (such as feathering the blades) are taken. Many a hippie commune has tried simple windmills to achieve their cherished "change of lifestyle," only to find it shattered on the ground when the wind really started blowing.

This is not to say that wind power is useless. It can be very useful when, broadly speaking, no other form of energy is available particularly in remote, windswept locations, such as mountain tops or other points to which transmission of centrally generated electricity would be too costly. An important example of this are the offshore oil drilling platforms, for which special windmills generating electric power have been designed and are now being used on an increasing scale to provide modest power (lighting, horns, etc.)

For large-scale conversion, there is the proposal of Prof. Hieronymus of the University of Massachusetts to install thousands of wind-driven generators offshore to utilize the north-westerlies blowing fairly constantly off the New England coast. The power would be transmitted to the shore directly, or used to make hydrogen by electrolysis for delivery by pipeline or ships. But while such a project is technically feasible, its economics are under strong doubt.

The forthcoming World Energy Conference in Detroit will feature an 11 ft wind generator charging forty 6 V batteries, which in turn will light a billboard welcoming the delegates. Though we are well aware of exceptions to the rule, this arrangement seems to typify wind-driven generators: good publicity, but little power.