I know we have many dams on the Columbia River that produce hydroelectric power. But this time of year should be when river flow rates should be at their lowest, as we have just come through the dry months of July, August, September and October, and I saw the idle windmills last week. Maybe demand is way down, due to decreased industrial activity because of the lousy economy, and the fact that the weather has been mild. Here in the Northwest, lots of homes have electric heat, since that used to be one of the least expensive methods to install a heating system. But our electric rates have gone up too, although I think we still have relatively low rates compared to some areas of the country. I bet during the heating season, the demand is really high and probably all or most of the windmills would be producing.
I wish they would come up with some efficient way to store large amounts of electricity, be it in storage battery banks, giant capacitors or something else we don't know about yet. Then maybe wind power would have a better pay-back.
About 80 years ago, my grandfather had a windmill that produced electricity on the farm in Northeast Montana. When the wind blew, the windmill turned and they stored the power in special glass cell, rebuildable storage batteries. Then they could use the power to have electric lights in the house and shop, and to listen to the radio. Since the wind sometimes didn't blow enough, they also had a gas engine powered generator that they sometimes had to use. My Mother said their place was the first in the area to have electric lights, long before the REA power lines came. Another windmill pumped most of their water.
I think that windmills have their place in our energy production scheme, but since the wind does not always blow strongly enough to produce good power, they always will be a secondary or lower source. Here in the Northwest, hopefully we will always have enough hydropower for most of our electrical needs (if the goofy environmentalists don't decide that fish are more important than people!!!). But the utility companies also have standby generation systems fueled by diesel and biowaste burners to help when demand is at its highest.
I still would have felt better about the situation if those windmills had been turning rather than just sitting still. A LOT of investment by someone (probably the taxpayers) just sitting there depreciating and weathering.
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