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Originally Posted by Flying Dutchman  It's not that new of a technology 88. What is new is the capacity of batteries to hold the power. It is my understanding the energy produced goes right into the grid and is not stored.
It is a shame that the cheapest and most cost effective energy source is not used, that being nuclear. Or, if we lived in Iceland and could tap into it, thermal energy. |
I wrote that wind technology is RELATIVELY new. It was used 100 years ago to pump water from the ground, but only recently have advances been made in turbine technology and computer controls that make is economically feasible to place 100-200 towers and turbines on a wind farm.
You are correct in that the power is put on the grid as it is produced. It is not stored. In fact every time you turn on a light, a television, a computer, or any electric device, a generator somewhere increases it's output to meet the load. The power is produced on demand. There is no storage of electricity as there is with say, natural gas. My belief is that storage technologies will eventually come on line that will allow for mass storage of the power produced by windfarms. This will address the issue of no power when there is no wind. The power will be produced whenever the wind blows. If there is more generation than load, the excess will be stored. When there is load but no generation, the power will be drawn from the storage device(s).
Now when will this happen and what will the technology be I can't say. But I do know that it is going to take a commitment of money and talent to bring to fruition things such as this. But, as long as this country sees fit to spend BILLIONS of our dollars blowing up and rebuilding shit in a part of the world where we have absolutley no business being, the timeframe for these types of technologies becomes stretched farther and farther.