I was recently involved with the development of a proposal for Newfoundland's first commercial wind farm. Tacke Windpower Inc. of Ontario (wholly owned subsidiary of a German company) had proposed to build a 15 MW facility consisting of 25 turbines at Cape Bonavista. The proposal was submitted to Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro in response to its call for proposals to supply 200 MW of power by the Year 2000. The power would have been needed to operate the new nickel smelter in Argentia and meet growing demands on the Island.
Unfortunately, the announced delay in the mine/smelter project resulted in the cancellation of the proposal call. We are currently considering other opportunities to pursue the development of wind power generation in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The modern wind power industry has been around for almost two decades now. Alternative energy programs in the 70's and 80's promoted technological development in this area. One of the major proving grounds was California. Many different companies and many different technologies have been deployed there. Over the past decade, the lessons learned in California and elsewhere have enabled manufacturers to improve the reliability and performance of their equipment tremendously. See the links for technical details.
Besides reliability problems, early models suffered becuase the electricity they produced was too expensive compared to other sources. This has changed as the turbines have grow larger, manufacturing costs have declined, and reliability has lead to lower maintenance costs. In places like Denmark and Germany, electricity from wind is competitive with most other sources, especially when environmental costs are added in.
Wind turbines are now utility-grade power generation systems rather than experimental devices. Worldwide production of electricity from wind is growing at big rates, up to 6,000 MW in 1996. Germany alone installed 450 MW last year. Wind power generation surpassed nuclear generation for new installations in 1995. Denmark will soon produce 10% of its electricity from wind sources (it should be no surprise that Denmark is the only country of 170 countries that has met its 1992 Rio commitments).
Another technological factor to consider is the complimentary relationship between wind and hydro resources. Wind is typically at peak production in the winter when water levels are low, and vice versa. Use of wind as an adjunct to hydro increases the overall reliability of the system and allows one to get more value from the existing hydro system. Studies in Sweden and Quebec confirm this approach and place a premium value on winter electricity from wind power.
It should come as no surprise to local residents that Newfoundland has a Class 1 wind resource - we are among the best places in the world (at least in inhabited areas!). We have many suitable wind generation locations and could easily provide a substantial proportion of our demand in this manner.
Some critics alledge that our winds are too erratic - they gust too much or are too powerful. These critics are out of touch, modern turbines are well-suited to our environment. As mentioned above, these machines operate in a wide range of wind speeds. Moreover, at any speed between the minimum and maximum, the turbine produces a steady output at its rated capacity. In preparation of our original proposal, it was determined from long-term wind data that on only 6.7 days out a 183 winter days would there be insufficient wind to operate. We would be able to produce electricity more than 95% of the time.
But what about those off days you say - won't we be short of power then? When wind power is operated as part of a grid, as proposed, then using wind when its available means you don't have to use other sources. In other words, you can keep water behind your dams until you need it. Wind stores its energy vicariously in the grid rather than in dams or fuel tanks. All grids are designed with a higher production capacity than is actually used. Hydro plants typically operate at production capacity factors of from 50 to 70%. Based on yearly data, our wind turbines should be able to operate at capacity factors exceeding 60% and up to 80% in winter months.
The second largest export from Denmark is wind technology. In Germany, they have created more than 5,000 direct manufacturing jobs in their internal wind energy market. Given these facts, and the prospects for electrical demand growth in North America in the next few years, I prepared a paper that proposes a wind energy development strategy for Newfoundland. It is short, take a look at it here. Wind technology is the right scale for developing a manufacturing industry in Newfoundland.
Wind power means we don't have to burn more fossil fuels. One 15 MW wind farm would save some 500,000 barrels of oil per year. Wind power means we don't have to dam any more rivers and flood any more habitat.
Wind power is pretty benign. It uses about 3% of the land it occupies and doesn't impact existing land uses by people or wildlife much. There used to be concerns about bird collisions but these have largely been resolved. Noise levels are low, lower than wind noises in nearby trees or ocean surf. The biggest impact is visual, but these are not unattactive structures.
This page was last modified on 1997 December 16, ©1997 Steve Delaney