Wind Power - Part 3

What then about Australia? An examination of the six wind turbines at Wonthaggi in Victoria with a maximum capacity of 12 Megawatts, on the 26th to the 28th of January 2009 at a time of heatwave, cherry picked by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong as:

“The scorching weather across southern Australia proved the accuracy of warnings by climate change scientists.”

“All of this is consistent with climate change and all of this is consistent with what scientists told us would happen.”

There are those "consistency" rhetorical statements from the Minister again!

When power requirements were spiking due to air conditioner use, were as follows:

28/1 3:00pm - CALM
28/1 09:00am - 4km/h
28/1 06:00am - 4km/h
27/1 3:00pm - 7km/h
27/1 09:00am - 9km/h
27/1 06:00am - 4km/h
26/1 03:00pm - 15km/h
26/1 09:00am - CALM
26/1 06:00am - CALM

Basically next to useless when required the most.

So despite the claims often made by “Greens politician’s” and “environmental activists” that wind and renewable generation systems are capable of base load levels of power, their efficiency and reliability are questionable, as is their ability to reduce greenhouse emissions due to the need for a reliable back up source.

At best they are a “feel good” adjunct to the wider grid.

It’s energy production is also many times more expensive per kilo-Watt hour than coal fired power, thus pushing up the cost to the end user.