The (Wind) Gods Must Be Crazy ….
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When the wind is “the thing”, that’s supposed to be your business – when it’s what makes the revenue (or, rather a massive pile of taxpayer and power consumer subsidies) flow – it seems a bit rich for wind power outfits to start whining about there being too much or too little.
FFS! How hard is it to get things “just right”?
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But, in shades of Goldilocks’ nitpicking about stolen porridge having to be “just right”, so it is amongst wind weasels.
Wind turbines don’t generate a single spark until the wind hits at least 5 m/s (18km/h); don’t hit ‘rated power’ (ie, maximum output) until wind speeds reach 11 m/s (40km/h); and get shut down automatically to protect blades and bearings when wind speeds hit 25 m/s (90km/h).
Despite wind being very much their ‘business’, around the globe wind power outfits have taken to blaming the ‘absence’ of it – as if it were one of Newton’s constants, you know, like gravity – for their financial, and other troubles, as detailed in these posts:
- Texas Blames Wind Power Slump on (you guessed it) … the Wind
- Germans Blame “Missing Wind” for their Wind Power Debacle
- Brits Rumble Frightening Energy Fact: Wind Power Depends on the (ur, ahem) Wind …
Here in Australia, near-bankrupt wind cowboys, Infigen (see our post here) have just pointed the finger at – you guessed it – THE WIND, for a massive drop in revenues (see this lament from the eco-facists over at ruin-economy). Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
For their myriad sins, it appears that wind power outfits have somehow drawn the opprobrium of the wind gods at both ends of the meteorological spectrum – with that great Greek huffer and puffer of old – Aeolus – really turning it on, and flattening fleets of fans with withering effect.
This time, the story’s about the Wind Gods going crazy in Brazil.
Eight Impsa turbines blown down in Brazil
Wind Power Monthly
Michael McGovern
26 January 2015
Eight Impsa turbines were blown down.
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BRAZIL: Investigations are ongoing at utility Eletrobras’s 46MW Cerro Chato IV-VI wind complex in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul following the collapse of eight Impsa turbines.
The incident was caused by a freak storm hitting Santana do Livramento district on the afternoon of 22 December, with gusts reaching 250 kilometres per hour, according to an Eletrosul press statement, which appears to be its only public comment on the incident.
Neither Impsa nor Electrobras would respond to questions from Windpower Monthly while investigations are ongoing. The machines were Impsa 2MW machines with a 100-metre rotor.
Before the storm, Rio Grande do Sul’s meteorological office, MetSul, had issued an alert for winds of up to just 120km/h. Reported maximum gusts for the neighbouring town of Rivera in Uruguay, which shares the border with Santana do Livramento, were at just 130km/h.
Impsa, Argentina’s beleaguered turbine manufacturer currently tackling solvency problems, has made no public comment.
No damage was reported to Wobben turbines operating in the same district.
Local press sources state that Eletrosul’s insurers have concluded onsite investigations, although conclusions are yet to be delivered to its client.
Wind Power Monthly
Whatever did the wind industry do to make the Wind Gods so upset?
About stopthesethings
STOP THESE THINGS 
Another issue is is too much renewable energy sent to the grid and/or it gets dumped into the ground or the turbines are powered down or blade positions altered to catch less wind. When market prices for electricity are not good and no ppa’s or rec will the wind companies continue to manipulate the availability of energy to earn top dollar, charging even more for their product? Does the general public realise wind farms are often ‘controlled’, monitored and tinkered with from overseas. Not a great idea to put all the energy eggs into this rotten little basket. Many of the turbines in Australia are reaching or past the ‘half life’ stage, they’re rusting, spewing oils and chemicals and we could potentially see 8 turbines ripped off and blasted from their moorings here as well. The noise and impacts on the locals when this equipment is torn asunder must be horrific. It’s like helplessly watching a massive oil spill from a crashed tanker, you cringe with horror. The ‘goons’ and the ‘Windies’ must be so far removed from nature and so blinded by greed that they have forgotten not only the gods but the mother of nature and Gaia as well.
Windmills and sailing boats may be quaint but we moved on long ago for very good reason. Just as we couldn’t rely on the wind to power our ships, nor can we rely on its fickle whims to power a modern electricity grid. With very limited exception windmills are next to useless, time to put these anachronistic behemoths into the time capsule where they belong.
Always love reading your posts. Keep up the good work guys!
A cracker STT.
Indeed the Wind gods must be crazy!!
I can just imagine the wind weasel goons in suits, ambling through their wind ‘parks’ to ‘hunt and gather’ Renewable Energy Certificates that have plummeted to earth, like a gift from the benevolent heavens (in truth arranged in advance with their slippery green mates in higher places).
But like the Coke bottle in that remarkable 1980s film, the shiny REC ‘gift’ is a source of tension and conflict among the wind weasels who have come to see it as their whole aspiration, to fight and bicker over between themselves, for without it their fraudulent and economically unsustainable industry will fall over (if it is not blown over beforehand!)
The Kalahari bushman of the film wisely threw the bottle off the cliff and returned to a welcoming community. Unfortunately the wind goons have only greed and avarice in their hearts. And the wind gods are not treating them kindly at all.
Oh my the poor things, the wind isn’t blowing – but wait – haven’t we been told, or should I say ‘sold’ the idea, that when it isn’t blowing in one place it will be somewhere else, so all is OK there will be plenty to go around?
Does this mean they’ve been telling porkies, or is this an example of how the Climate is changing?
If it is? Does it mean all the money spent on wind turbines has been spent unwisely and relying on wind energy is unreliable?