Unlike fossil fuel plants, they require no combustible
fuels to generate electricity. And there is no danger
that they will leak radiation as did the Fukushima-Daiichi
nuclear plant following last year’s tsunami in Japan.
Hence, the Northeast’s wind and solar farms evoked little
public anxiety this week when Hurricane Sandy hit – unlike
the nuclear and fossil fuel infrastructure. Safety officials
kept a careful eye on the nuclear power plants and three
were shut down in New Jersey and New York. And the smell of
natural gas in any flooded areas drew quick attention from
those who understood the danger.
These anxieties speak to a larger difference between
renewables and conventional generation. Specifically, wind
and solar operate under simpler systems that are prone to
fewer problems, say renewable energy advocates.
Simple Design, Simple Operations
First of all, wind and solar do not need additional
energy inputs to produce electricity or cool a reactor, said
John Kourtoff, president and CEO of Toronto-based Trillium
Power Wind. There is no need for natural gas, oil or coal to
be excavated, transported and applied to the system.
Instead, they produce electricity by taking advantage of a
form of energy that is already available – wind and sun.
Second, they mimic nature in design, so they tend to be
more resilient and withstand natural disasters better, he
said.
“Renewables at their core are simple bio-mimicry based
on nature. This simple and closed aspect makes them
successful when storms and natural disasters happen, whether
hurricanes, earthquakes, or tsunamis,” Kourtoff said.
He pointed out that last year’s tsunami in Japan
devastated a nuclear plant, but
wind turbines near the shore suffered no harm.
Wind and solar farms mimic a natural cell-like structure,
so they are less likely than conventional power plants to
succumb to a cascading failure, according to Kourtoff.
You lose a blade on a wind tower and you don’t lose the
whole wind farm — just like you don’t kill a flower if a
petal comes off. But for more complex energy systems, like
fossil fuel and nuclear plants, failure in one part can
bring down the entire production facility in a cascade, he
said.
“You can put a spike through a solar panel yet the rest
of the solar farm runs because it runs on a cellular-like
model. If one cell is not operational, the others continue
to operate,” he said.
He calls nuclear and fossil fuel plants industrial age
technologies, and recent wind and solar, “Renewables
2.0,” designs that have grown simpler, with fewer moving
parts and more efficient functioning.
Kourtoff also likened wind and solar design – at least in
philosophy – to the products created by Steve Jobs, which
emphasized simplicity, elegance and human appeal.
“Why do people like Apple products? They like them
because of the simplicity of design. People see beauty in
simplicity, in nature. You never hear anyone say, ‘Look at
that beautiful nuclear plant.’ But if you see wind turbines
moving gracefully in the water, they look beautiful,”
Kourtoff said.
The simplicity also offers practical benefits.
“In terms of renewable energy, it can certainly help the
grid come back quickly from weather situations like
Hurricane Sandy,” said Carol Murphy, executive director,
Alliance for Clean Energy New York. “It can take nuclear
plants a week or more to come back online. Wind and solar,
like other generators, do shut down during extreme weather
conditions, but they can be back up and produce power
quickly.”
How Did Renewables Weather the Storm?
Based on early assessments, renewable energy facilities
seemed to fare well during Hurricane Sandy. ISO New England
said it received no reports of any damage to wind or solar
facilities from the storm.
Iberdrola Renewables, which owns wind farms in
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania,
reported few problems.
“We monitored the situation through the night and shut
down sites as a precaution to protect equipment from extreme
winds. Inspections today have revealed minimal damage so
far. We are very satisfied with the response of our
people and the performance of the sites through an
exceptional event,” said Jan Johnson, Iberdrola Renewables’
communications director.
Long Island suffered some of the most severe destruction,
wiping out service to most of the Long Island Power
Authority’s 1.1 million customers. But the island’s 32-MW
Long Island Solar Farm appears to have come through fairly
well.
Nothing “catastrophic” happened at the facility,
according to Matt Hartwig, spokesman for BP Alternative
Energy, which operates the solar farm. “They are beginning
their assessment, which initially shows damage to the fence
around the facility as well as some module damage, the
extent of which is not yet known.”
New York, Connecticut and other hard hit areas happen to
be in various stages of devising long-term energy plans.
We’ll soon see if Hurricane Sandy – and lessons learned
about renewable energy performance in storms – will add a
new dimension to policy decisions about the future role of
wind and solar.
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