>From Jed: ...
> The authors estimate that it would take 43 groups of 600 of these > "FEGs" to power the U.S. 1 FEG produces 20 MW, so that's 12 GW per > group and 516 GW total. That's about right. I do not think 12 GW > groups would be cost effective for many rural locations. For example, > the whole of North Dakota has only 4.8 GW of peak electric generator > capacity. See: > > http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/north_dakota.html Also, consider the size of the "arrays" being proposed. A 25x25 matrix totals 625 FEGs. That's really not that large a footprint. > I expect you could put all 600 groups in North Dakota with room to > spare, and they would operate at peak efficiency, but they do not > need 516 GW up there. Like most super-large scale wind power grids, > this would work best with HTSC power transmission. Which begs the question that there is likely to be a lot of money to be made in the race to create cost effective electrical storage technologies. May not be as sexy, but essential nevertheless. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
