Jackie Kemp has engaged her word processor before engaging her brain (July
21). Some research into the simple mathematics behind wind-power would give her
a better understanding of the futility of it. Wind turbines are irrelevant both
as a means of reducing carbon emissions (1100 turbines in the UK displace less
than 0.1% of all CO2 emissions in the UK) and as a reliable source of
electricity (average load factor in
The output from all the wind turbines in the UK last year was a derisory 1/27th of the electricity lost in the National Grid system through transmission losses. Currently, a unit of electricity from a modern windfarm is wholesaling at more than three times that from normal sources. The consumer will have to pay the difference.
(The term "load factor" is the actual amount of electricity produced expressed as a percentage of the installed capacity of each turbine. For example, the annual output of a windfarm in the UK, with an installed capacity of 100 megawatts, would average only 25 megawatts.) Our government tells us that windpower is essential to halt global warming, but a simple calculation tells us that in the unlikely event of wind ever supplying 10% of UK generation, it will displace only 2% to 3% of our total CO2 emission. This is less than one-thousandth of total world CO2 emission. It does not need a computer to conclude that there is not the slightest chance of this measurably altering the atmospheric CO2 concentration, let alone deflecting climate change.
Denmark and Germany have been described as a wind energy success story, but digging beneath the green propaganda reveals that the average "load factor" in Germany over the past five years was 14.7%. The annual "load factor" in Denmark is about 20%. Without huge subsidies this industry would be scrapped.
Some success story.
Bob Graham, Protect Rural Scotland Party, Craigsview, Inchberry, Orton, Moray.
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