Jed, Didn't you say yourself that the future of profits in the energy sector will mainly derive from the hardware and peripheral side of the business and not from the sale of energy?
Harry ----- Original Message ----- From: Jed Rothwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Monday, December 1, 2008 11:39 am Subject: Re: [Vo]:Ill Wind for green Brits? > Quoting the article: > > "Oswald's report highlights the key issue of load factor, the > actual > power generated compared to the theoretical maximum, and how > critical > it is to the viability of the wind power industry. In 2006, > according > to U.K. government statistics, the average load factor for wind > turbines across the U.K. was 27.4 percent. Thus a typical 2 > megawatt > turbine actually produced only 0.54 MW of power on an average day. > The worst performing U.K. turbine had a load factor of just 7 > percent. These figures reflect a poor return on investment." > > This makes no sense. > > Everyone knows that actual power generated is less than nameplate > capacity. (This is true for all electric power generator types, > including even nuclear power, which has the highest ratio of actual > to nameplate.) They know this at the planning and financing phase, > and they know it in more detail when they measure the wind before > installing. If the actual to nameplate ratio is going to generate a > poor return on investment, this will be obvious before the first > dollar is spent. They would not build a wind farm if they knew it > was > a poor investment. > > Many other technical points in this article are either bogus, or > common knowledge that has been taken into account. > > - Jed > >
