[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Archive Top]

RE: [cdn-nucl-l] " Norway tries underwater 'windmills' "

If one just divides 700,000 kWh by 30 homes, its 23,300 kWh per home per year.
That's very high.
Here in Canada, the average annual consumption per home (Ontario) is just under 12,000 kWh.
(in the coldest month (February), a large electrically-heated home consumes something like 3,000 kWh)
But as you point out, the price per installed kW is astronomical -- and doesn't even cover (or at least there's no mention of it in the article) electrical batteries for energy storage during periods when the tide is turning around, thus there's no, or little, current.
 
One thing that I find appealing in the concept though, is that the flow past the "underwater windmill" is always in a predictable direction, so you don't need to have a rotating cab on top of your tower and, even better, you can brace the tower in the plane of high overturning moment, instead of the omnidirectional resistance one must build into ordinary dry-land windmills....
 
But I'm not so convinced of the harmlessness of such installations to cetaceans & other large marine animals, as claimed in the article (I suppose the Norwegians have a different perspective on this subject, since they're one of the last countries in the world still practicing whale hunting...).

 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-----Original Message-----
From: cdn-nucl-l-admin@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA [mailto:cdn-nucl-l-admin@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA]On Behalf Of George Stanford
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 10:34 PM
To: multiple cdn
Cc: trandall@mishoreline.com; gmarsh@anl.gov
Subject: Re: [cdn-nucl-l] " Norway tries underwater 'windmills' "


        The article mentions "700,000 kilowatt hours of non-polluting
energy a year, or enough to light and heat about 30 homes."  If my
arithmetic is correct, that's an average output 80 kW, or 2.6 kW
per home.  Is that enough for a house in a Norwegian winter?.

         "The plant in the Kvalsund channel, which had cost about
$11 million by Saturday's launch . . . " Again if my arithmetic is
correct, that's $137,000 per average installed kWe.  Compare
some $600 for a gas-fired plant, and maybe $1500 - $2500 for
a nuclear plant (or is my estimate for nuclear high?).

        George Stanford

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 04:35 PM 9/24/2003, Jaro Franta wrote:
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 17:35:20 -0400

Something weird with the numbers in this article...  (installed capacity,
for one, seems very small, even assuming a low CF).

....but they sure don't mince words, when they state flatly that "Aboveground
windmills, by contrast, are useless in calm weather and have to be built to
withstand hurricane-force winds."

Wonder what the maintenance list includes... cleaning barnacles off the
blades ?

 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

http://www.msnbc.com/news/969748.asp
Norway tries underwater 'windmills'
Tides turn blades, providing power to local homes