For consumers wanting to generate their own green power, installing a small wind turbine may be an option. Small wind turbines are electric generators that use the energy of the wind to produce clean, emissions-free power for individual homes, farms, and small businesses.
It must be remembered, though, that wind power is intermittent and variable, so a wind turbine produces power at or above its annual average rate only 40% of the time. That is, most of the time.
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A wind turbine may be “available” for 90% or more of the time, but its output depends only on the wind. Without the wind, it is like a bicycle that nobody rides: available, but not spinning.
Wind power has a very low “capacity credit,” its ability to replace other sources of power.
For example, in the U.K., which boasts of being the windiest country in Europe, the Royal Academy of Engineering projects that 25,000 MW of wind power will reduce the need for conventional power capacity by 4,000 MW, a 16% capacity credit.
What is wind power’s capacity credit?
Two studies in Germany projected that 48,000 MW of wind power will allow reducing conventional capacity by only 2,000 MW, a 4% capacity credit (as described in “Wind Report 2005,” Eon Netz).
Similarly, the Irish Grid calculated that 3,500 MW of wind power could replace 496 MW of conventional power, a 14% capacity credit. See some of these and other documents here at National Wind Watch.
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Wind power has a very low “capacity credit,”
its ability to replace other sources of power.
For example, in the U.K., which boasts of being the windiest country in Europe, the Royal Academy of Engineering projects that 25,000 MW of wind power will reduce the need for conventional power capacity by 4,000 MW, a 16% capacity credit.
What is wind power’s capacity credit?
Two studies in Germany projected that 48,000 MW of wind power will allow reducing conventional capacity by only 2,000 MW, a 4% capacity credit (as described in “Wind Report 2005,” Eon Netz).
Similarly, the Irish Grid calculated that 3,500 MW of wind power could replace 496 MW of conventional power, a 14% capacity credit. See some of these and other documents here at National Wind Watch.
