We are trying to collect dilute energy across a million square kilometers with heavy machinery in extreme conditions. What could possibly go wrong?
Last night around 9pm, the top part of the 30-metre turbine fell off in 40 knot winds — which is not unusual in Mawson (in September wind gusts of 185km/hr were recorded). Fortunately no one was killed because people were inside. Though it looks pretty close to that red building (was anyone there?) No one knows why it happened. The other turbine at the station has been turned off as a precaution (though I wouldn’t be walking underneath it). Maybe someone can tie ropes with a helicopter?
ABC News: Mawson Antarctic research station relying solely on diesel after wind turbine crashes to ground
Wind Turbine, Antarctic research station, Mawson, break, collapse.
Right now things have warmed up a lot at Mawson, and temperatures even climb above 0C by 3pm some days. Though on November 1 the maximum temp was -8.8C. Naturally diesel saves the day. Of course Mawson is fully backed with diesel power.
These are 300kW turbines installed in 2003, so only 14 years old. Maybe it was just bad luck.
The maintenance costs of renewable energy are only just being figured out. Imagine the headlines if a 14 year old coal station suddenly dropped something from 30m up on a path that must weigh several tons, it would be “another reason” to give up fossil fuels.
h/t Bulldust.
BACKGROUND INFO:
- Average wind speeds for Mawson are about 10m per second according to Dare and Budd, 2001. That translates to 36km/hr.
- BoM Weather observations for Mawson show winds are about 65km/hr with gusts to 96km/hr in the last day or two.
- Business Insider is also covering this.
trust ABC to include this irrelevant bit of info:
“Right now things have warmed up a lot at Mawson, and temperatures even climb above 0C by 3pm some days.”
[Ahh. No. That’s me, just pointing out how much they must need electricity! – Jo]
meanwhile, elsewhere:
7 Nov: VencoreWeather: 12:20 PM *Late week Arctic blast may not be the last of the month…”high-latitude blocking” pattern likely to form by Thanksgiving Day*
Overview
Let the games begin…it is now snowing in State College and Altoona in upstate Pennsylvania and the look to winter is suddenly upon us in the Mid-Atlantic region. Low pressure today will head towards the Mid-Atlantic coastline and a cold rain in the I-95 corridor may actually end as a mix of sleet or snow tonight to the north and west of the big cities. A powerful cold front will arrive with gusty winds on Thursday night and usher in an Arctic blast for Friday and Saturday with the lowest temperatures of the season so far. An overall upper-atmosphere pattern with “high-latitude blocking” is looking increasingly likely for later this month and that could result in more cold air outbreaks for the Mid-Atlantic region by the time Thanksgiving week rolls around…
Late week cold blast
Another strong cold front will arrive in the I-95 corridor on Thursday night with gusty winds and this will usher in the coldest air mass of the season so far and temperatures will be well below normal on Friday and Saturday. By early Saturday morning, temperatures in the 20’s are all but certain in the immediate I-95 corridor – perhaps even down to near the 20 degree mark in some spots – and wind chills will become quite a noticeable factor…
High-latitude blocking
There are reasons to believe that the prospects for “high-latitude blocking” events this winter are pretty good as discussed extensively in the “2017-2018 Winter Outlook” with regard to three important factors: low solar activity, an increase in the autumnal snowpack across Siberia, and the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index. “High-latitude blocking” in the wintertime involves higher-than-normal pressure in places like Greenland, Iceland and northeastern Canada and it is important to monitor around here as it often results in sustained cold air outbreaks for the central and eastern US…
Bottom line…this late week Arctic blast may not be the last of the month…could be quite cold for Thanksgiving Day.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
https://www.vencoreweather.com/blog/2017/11/7/1220-pm-late-week-arctic-blast-may-not-be-the-last-of-the-monthhigh-latitude-blocking-pattern-likely-to-form-by-thanksgiving
92
Southern Hemisphere regional cooling is caused by ‘blocking highs’, bringing unseasonal low temperatures along the Australian east coast.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-222.66,-39.37,821/loc=144.522,-30.687
71
And “heat waves” resulting from these unseasonal “blocking highs”on the west coast. It is just weather not climate change – this has been going on during the current Holocene Interglacial (past 11,700 yrs). Mind you these “blocking highs” will in all likelihood be less of a problem for the southern part of Oz during the imminent LIA. Expect cold fronts to dominate (like South Island NZ) for a longer period annually and “blocking highs” be confined to the period late Spring to early Autumn. No doubt this also occurred during the Dalton & Maunder Minimums in the past 370 yrs. These are all natural cycles resulting from Solar changes and not from the activities of us Homo Sapiens. So please tell everyone out there that we are 100% innocent of causing AGW, especially tell our so called “politically correct” pollies.
201
‘It is just weather not climate change …. ‘
It is climate change, global cooling has begun.
Clearly you haven’t attended the Evans lectures.
51
If only GC had begun el gordo. Dr Evan’s “notch theory” predicted GC to commence ~ 2017 or a bit later on the basis of the significant drop in TSI circa 2004. So we need to be patient. This is the 2nd year in row there has been a “weak La Nina” (late 2016 & mid/late 2017 so far). What is needed is a strong La Nina like 2010/2011 to kick off this GC. I believe the planet is still trying to rid itself of that strong 2015/2016 El Nino event warmth. A number of solar physicists are predicting the next GM (and LIA) to take hold in SC26 onwards – that is a decade way. By that time one suspects that more US$trillions will have been squandered addressing non-existent AGW. Evan’s GC it seems is a praecursor to the future SC26 + GC cycle. How long will this GC last (Maunder ~ 70yrs & Dalton ~40yrs)? Long enough to kill off the “Theory of AGW” once and for all.
80
Back to back La Nina would bring huge floods to Australia, similar to the early 1950s, which gives us a rough timeline. The cooling will be no different to the 1950s and 1960s.
On a bigger canvas the year is 1240 AD.
30
just try and inform the ABC denizens at Ultimo that. a zoned-out clueless mob if there ever was. Pass the soy latte!
80
And what about the Melbourne CBD “Greenie Cappuccino Set” & those inner Melbourne Councils where over 50% of councillors are from the Greens Party.
60
Sounds like….. Weather! OMG….. its the end of the world!
21
I always have and always will consider wind mills as a stupid and archaic form of power generation. In this day and age of working towards colonising Mars, how stupid can we be even to consider using wind mills?
502
Windmills can be useful. The problem is that they are usually comparatively expensive. One would have thought that an Antarctic base would be the best suited location on Earth for generating electricity from wind.
This is a case of poor engineering. Surely the designers took into consideration the local conditions. And still they failed to construct and maintain this generator in service.
Even so, I would expect that an audit would show that 14 years is above the average lifetime of wind generators constructed to date. I would expect an audit would produce figures to demand an immediate cessation of construction of wind generators.
Modern technology would make it quite easy to automate the inspection of such machinery to give warning of such failures, enabling maintenance to prevent them. I’d say that this failure is largely attributable to ethics.
181
They can be useful on an individual basis on say a farm but for mass generation of power on a much larger scale- no way! It’s just too unreliable and expensive to maintain for the tiny proportion it adds to the total grid.
181
Economic valdalism….?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-09/northern-power-station-port-augusta-boilers-demolished/9134360
“Explosions have demolished the main section of the Northern Power Station at Port Augusta — 18 months after Alinta Energy closed the coal-fired power station.
The two 80-metre tall boilers, containing 10,000 tonnes of steel each, were brought down by a series of explosive charges.
Contractor Andrew McMahon said the scale of the task was unprecedented.
“It’s one of the biggest fellings undertaken in the world, certainly in the Southern Hemisphere,” he said.”
40
…vandalism….
30
PeterS you are correct. There is no reason that modern sensor/telemetry technology was not included in the failed wind tower/turbine. Modern gas wells have sensors for the level of condensates in storage tanks so they can be emptied and taken to pipeline/point of refinery or use. Same for well head pressure, battery power levels on sensors, etc.
I think the main difference is that modern oil and gas fields are operated by private industry and thus maintained for optimum production by professional engineers and technicians.
Wind turbine electricity generation facilities are put up be dreamers and schemers who lack both the will and/or technical skill to maintain them. Hard to maintain a wind turbine if you are not skilled or don’t care. Or worse yet, believe your own outlandish sales pitches and promises.
190
There are garages full of horded junk retained on the basis that one day, it can be useful. Of course, it never is. It’s just junk.
Windmills ‘can’ be useful, much like the spent cardboard inner of a toilet paper role.
200
It’s the week after you throw out that thing you’ve been carrying around for 10 years that you have need of it.
140
Greg, that’s called Sod’s Law.
20
Thanks Manfred, I wasn’t aware of Sod’s law.
But while looking into that, I found this…
Law of truly large numbers:
This looks very much like the MSM’s focus on every storm event that they think is extreme.
20
I’d love to see them put their money where their mouth is and run Mawson on wind power…after all, its so good and so robust and so reliable it can keep an antractic team from freezing in the worst of conditions…..
30
But they’re made of modern materials: concrete and fibreglass. Must be good.
80
You just gave me an idea. I could build them out of something much stronger and much lighter that costs ten times more and become rich. Just kidding of course as I would not stoop so low to con people but I suspect there are many who would.
30
But it is a good idea, and one that they would run with. It is other people’s money after all.
30
Oh my goodness – think of the penguins!
150
At least the polar bears are safe.
150
To date, not a single polar bear has been lost in Antarctica due to climate change – IPCC fact.
120
“IPCC” and “fact” arent two words normally seen in the same sentence as each other….
50
Penguins are extinct at northern pole due to AGW.
40
Hmmm…. the penguins.
Methinks the penguins have seen enough of these ugly devices and have heard from their northern cousins who get about flying in the air about the casualty count.
Crafty, cunning little buggers those penguins. Have you seen the movie?
Boy, there must be some happy feet indeed down at Mawson!
81
I thought they were supposed to be maintaining the Antarctic as a pristine environment. It seems like they are treating it as some sort of fly-tipping location with bits of non-recyclable fibre-glass and plastic everywhere. I guess none of the oils in the nacelle with have escaped into the ground. I wonder who the idiots are who decided to use wind turbines in such a location? Whoever they are, they should be sent there in a sail-boat to clean up the mess they have created.
361
I watched an episode of “Mighty Cruise Ships” last night – this one featured Royal Clipper. Her owners claim “She is the largest “true sailing ship” built since Preussen” which may be true, but this “sailing ship” also has a pair of V16 Caterpillar 3516 diesels down below, driving a 4 blade feathering prop, and judging by what we saw, this is the main means of propulsion… Considering that the excursion shown was based in the Med, it was surprising that two sails were damaged in the space of 12 days – a fore sail was ripped in 35knot winds, and had to be taken down and repaired on the deck (using electric powered sewing machines). The other had to be hand-stitched by the senior rigger, working in a harness some 100ft up in the air. Apart from one clearly organised sail hoisting, using “volunteer” passengers, all the work is done with the assistance of electric winches, and one of these (at the very end of a boom) required a major overhaul, also during the cruise.
Remind me why, exactly, “renewable energy” is the future???
181
You can get some quite nasty storms in the Med. In our sailing club we had a chart on the notice board. It contained an Arab list with timings of all the usual storms expected in the Eastern Med, together with their Arab names. A medic and his son, on holiday from UK, died when they were blown out to sea by a sudden change in the wind.
20
It’s worse, much worse, than you thought, Phillip, what with all those toxic gases and particulates spewed out by the standby diesel generators.
Bye bye oh lovely pristine Antarctica. We’ll miss you!
20
.
Obvious!
They were designed for HARSH, TOUGH, WINDY conditions
Climate Change is causing it to be mild & calm!
Of course the top fell off, it hadn’t done anything for days?
No exercise!
Ehhee 🙂
200
Harsh, tough, windy describes a Green voter.
150
Windy yes, and harsh – we have seen SHY’s callous response to the Christmas Island drowning tragedy, but tough? Please, just look at the average Green, tough is the last word I would use to describe them. Or perhaps the second last word after intelligent.
50
“Of course the top fell off, it hadn’t done anything for days”
Nah, it was a suicide turbine, radicalised by climate change.
130
The Peoples Front of Antarctica……
30
I heard the greenies were demanding that they back up the wind turbines with solar panels!!
Ar …. YUP!!!
100
Yup, that would work a treat in the land of 6 months darkness!
60
It was probably fatigue. Most should know that in cold weather metals become brittle. Over time stresses cause changes in metal and micron size cracks can develop. That could have happened in the high Sept winds. Once the cracks propagate there comes a point when only small stresses lead to failure. Wind turbines are a stupid idea in the Arctic or Antarctic circle. A diesel generator or nuclear power plant inside a shelter are a better idea.
340
cementafriend:
As far as I can see the entire nacelle (or a very substantial part) has come down. How was it attached to the column? Almost certainly with metal bolts and as the nacelle has to rotate to the direction of the wind through some sort of ‘turntable’. The casing of the nacelle would be fibreglass and possibly the base as well. If both were orthophthalic resin then they have limited fatigue resistance, although that would be enhanced by the low temperatures. The Hut shown is almost certainly orthophthalic resin composite (with fire retardent polyurethane foam inside as insulation) and such has been used there for many years successfully. But there is a difference between as stationary hut and a higher construction subject to constant stresses from varying loads. I would guess that someone chose the cheaper construction based on the huts life without considering the different duties. Or maybe the metal bolts were fatigued. I don’t intent going there to find out.
100
There used to be a Swedish firm selling helical vertical axis turbines which they touted as ‘proven’ in Arctic and Antarctic conditions (about 2009). The claims were that they were quieter, although less efficient but able to withstand far higher wind speeds, hence the wider operating range made them almost as economic in extreme conditions. I can’t remember their name and they seem to have gone out of business. Has anybody any thoughts?
30
Maybe start here:
http://www.nordicgreen.net/startups/wind/vertical-wind-ab
Also,
The Gorlov helical turbine; and
the Darrieus turbine
+ other names
30
J. F. H.
Thanks, but they were helical Savonius type rotors with a half shroud to boost efficiency. But like so many Green ideas they must have proven not workable.
30
My father when he worked at the the Williamstown Dockyard used to service the Antractic vessel “Nella Dan”. Each winter her running gear, skin fittings, pumps, etc were overhauled/replaced because of early failures and fatigue from the extreme cold he said.
100
Brittle metal, so AGW is good for windmills… :-).
10
Also
Was this specially built for Antarctic as steel normally in Australia (Roofing etc) becomes brittle in -46 degrees C!
They would have to had it made for the conditions?
110
Freezing and thawing will crack the hardest rocks.
The Australian Antarctic Division has no tough nuts any more. They’re all green lefties now. Marshmallows sucking on the Kool-aid.
Couldn’t engineer their way out of a wet paper bag.
140
The rocks as just rocks, or are we assuming the ingress of moisture into cracks that are opened up when the water freezes?
20
Yes. The latter.
Freeze-thaw weathering is a form of physical or mechanical weathering that induces stress on rocks when water repeatedly seeps into cracks, freezes and expands, eventually causing the rock to break apart.
Why would bolt holes or welds on windmills be any different?
30
It’s happened before:
http://files.engineering.com/download.aspx?folder=008307dd-7ad8-4c3a-9395-17a188c52dde&file=Excalibur_Report_-_Whistler_Blackcomb_12-July-2010_Final_Report_with_Appendices.pdf
30
Where was the turbine made? That would give a good idea of the grades of steel used.
What conditions was it “designed” for?
My guess: Gearbox bearing failure, -> excessive vibration -> mounting metal fatigue -> plop.
20
Ok, no g’box. Direct drive. So I’m deleting step 1 of my guess.
20
Made in Germany. Steels should be good, and ample overbuild for strength.
Survival Wind Speed is supposed to be up to 75m/s (250 km/hr).
Tower is steel tube.
Rotor is GFK Epoxy
Cold may be a factor.
It went plop so something was very wrong. Tower failure? (rust?)
Anti-corrosion = painted.
What with?
When and how Refreshed?
Interesting.
30
It is unlikely that this failure occurred without prior warning, had the warning noises been recognised.
How many people are at the base in the winter, and how often are they outside? Can they hear the windmills when they are inside?
Also, how long would it take to get a repair job done. It might require up to two years’ notice after funding approval.
30
Perhaps the windmill heard that DT had won the 2016 election and promptly fell apart.
30
Does anyone have any idea of the cost of getting that monstrosity up?
The weight of the wind turbine is ?
The weight of an equivalent diesel is ?
Is this being practical or is it a show pony?
KK
171
The ABC link says its an Enercon E30 turbine and the specs are here.
Single blade: 0.3 t
Hub: –
Rotor: 3.8 t
Nacelle: 12.6 t
Tower, max: 27.3 t
Total weight: 44.0 t
With 1 m/s = 3.6 kph the cut out wind speed is 25 m/s = 90 kph and survival wind speed is 70 m/s = 252 kph.
I’d suggest exposure to salt air, freezing winds and a lack of maintenance due to the difficult conditions are all factors….besides the fact its asshat technology.
251
I suspect you’re right. The support was a steel tube which was painted for it’s corrosion protection (according to the specs). Ice particles in wind can be quite abrasive: the stronger the wind, the more so. The specs don’t say how it was painted nor what with, nor whether the inside was painted as well, just `painted.’ What sort of conditions was the paint able to survive?
Rust never sleeps. Rust, intense cold and variable vibration (the rotor blades were glass fibre and epoxy, not exactly armoured against wind blown ice missiles) over 13 years … plop. That’s half the claimed/supposed design life of 25 years.
It could be like the Titannic’s hull plates: embrittling below a threshold temperature. The Titannic’s two sister ships the Olympic and the Brittanic, all suffered from the same metallurgical problem. Only the Olympic made it to the wrecker’s yards [1935].
Rust with vibration is more plausible.
20
jo writes:
“Imagine the headlines if a 14 year old coal station suddenly dropped something”
well, here’s a new low, if confirmed.
8 Nov: DailyTelegraph: MPs condemns ’disgusting’ anti-Adani act of faeces in fuel tanks
by VICTORIA NUGENT, Townsville Bulletin
GRUBBY tactics reportedly employed by anti-Adani activists at Belyando Crossing have been condemned by political leaders.
Dawson MP George Christensen said reports of faeces being added to fuel tanks were “disgusting”.
“It just really enforces the stereotypical filthy, dirty greenies and that’s what they are,” he said.
“It’s just disgraceful, that kind of stuff. There are health issues.”
Mr Christensen said he believed protesters would have learnt some of their tactics at activist training camps such as one staged in Bowen in September.
“It’s very co-ordinated,” he said. “They know they’re doing unlawful things.
“I think there’s a lot more blow-ins than there are people from North Queensland.
“There are some — they’re the noisy minority who always make waves.”
Federal Resources and Northern Australia Minister Senator Matt Canavan said he would be disappointed if the reports of machinery being sabotaged were true.
“Currently, my only information on this issue is what has been provided by the Townsville Bulletin,” he said.
“If it’s true that machinery is being sabotaged or rendered unusable in this way, it represents a new low point for anti-Adani protests.
I respect the right of people to protest lawfully, even if I disagree with their point of view, but I also believe it is important to respect the right of other people to support their families by working in mining and related industries.
“I do not believe protesters should try to prevent their fellow Australians from working and try to sabotage projects that are important for regional communities.”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/mps-condemns-disgusting-antiadani-act-of-faeces-in-fuel-tanks/news-story/52571fde09bb5fa2f545c64ae9171780
30 Oct: DailyMercuryMackay: Adani protesters shut down work for second time in a week
by Jorunn Lorenzen
WORK on Adani’s railway line to Abbot Point has been disrupted this morning by a protester perched at the top of a pole.
It comes after anti-Adani protesters chained themselves to machinery in the same location last week.
Melbournite Darcy Poulton, 25, is perched at the top of the pole, which is tied to four construction machines…
30
Am i the only one that loves it when these giant fans crash and burn?
There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a dead and mangled wind turbine.
To me it symbolises the eventual annihilation of all Pagan Idols.
350
I am right there with you Sonny – if you need a fix, there are plenty of youtube videos of those eco-crucifix failures.
30
Can’t be stated often enough: BIG GREEN = BIG OIL. The sheiks and good ol’ boys worked that out long ago. Whey haven’t we?
Big Green also uses lots of coal for the manufacture of its contraptions, but for massive supplementation it needs oil and gas. And because diesel gen is the quick solution when things stop working, that means obtaining lots of diesel to keep on being green. This is a temporary and transitional arrangement which will be permanently temporary and transitional but only for a while till…till bigger batteries, maybe. Or Godot. Or something.
Sorry to nag on this. We sit atop the best imaginable supply of coal and uranium yet we are needlessly demanding diesel in a naughty world which is at its naughtiest when oil is involved. Right now depressed prices are the rule for a lot of reasons. But we’ve said that before, haven’t we?
And if you are living in South Australia when oil goes to $100 bbl don’t bother getting out the popcorn this time. You’ll be the show.
250
In recent months I have often been walking past an outcropping of coal and been once again captivated by it’s appearance and shine.
An amazing material.
Picking up a rock and giving the coal a good smack always gives crystals of pure shiny black material that is going to burn with less “pollution” than the equivalent amount of wood.
Clean coal; dirty wood.
The Greens seem to believe it’s the other way around.
Coal is an amazing, beautiful, pure, naturally refined combustible material that we should all be thankful for.
KK
341
Chocolate sunshine!
100
Nature’s battery.
110
KK,
It looks even more beautiful as a 100,000 tonne stockpile in front of a power station.
AND before I get a lecture about excess surge capacity and the associated capital cost of surge, that’s what will be needed to “rail and cyclone-proof” a coal fired power station in North Queensland.
110
Ah yes!
A 100,000 Tonne stockpile, you know, enough for five days operation at Bayswater.
Interestingly, I would direct you to look at something here concerning the youngest coal fired power plant in Australia, the Kogan Creek plant near Chinchilla, around 280Km from Brisbane.
It’s barely ten years old and is one of four SuperCritical plants in Australia, all of them in Queensland. It has one turbine/generator Unit with a Nameplate of 750MW, making it the largest single Unit in Australia.
Because it is that higher level of technology than those older plants here in Australia, it burns 42% less coal per MWH than those older plants, hence 42% less CO2 emissions.
See that destroyed Wind tower in the image at Joanne’s text. In one whole year, that wind tower generates the same power delivered by Kogan Creek in, umm, TWO HOURS.
The site I direct you to is at Wikipedia, not particularly carbon friendly, so it must have stuck in their craw to write those facts about less emissions.
Now, while you are at the site, read ….. very carefully, the bit about the Solar Boost part of the plant. $70 Million from the company, and $34 Million from the Federal Government. (the taxpayer, if you will) Incidentally, note where it mentions that $70 Million from the ‘Company’ CS Energy. Well, CS Energy is a Company wholly owned by the Queensland State Government so that $70 Million also came from the taxpayer.
It couldn’t be made to work, so was abandoned in 2016. $100 Million plus ….. for nothing.
Oh, and where toorightmate mentions this:
That same 100,000 Tonne stockpile at a North Queensland new tech HELE USC coal fired plant with the equivalent Nameplate of Kogan Creek, say 750MW, which is all that would be required, well that stockpile is around 6 to 8 weeks supply for full operation of the plant.
Tony.
130
Fate of so many in the
wind-turbine community,
born at great expense
of high cost energy,
though they’re offspring
of Faith, Hope and Charity,
on average they’re short-lived,
RIP aged fourteen years, or less,
alas, they’re economic possibilities
unrealized, poor things.
X—–”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/9770837/Wind-farm-turbines-wear-sooner-than-expected-says-study.html
81
‘Faeces in the fuel tank’ perhaps this is some kind of green experiment in energy recycling. Keep clear of the exhaust!
GeoffW
90
Why am I reminded of Oymandias?
Tony.
100
Whoops! It;’s missing a ‘Z’
Ozymandias.
Tony.
140
Ozy, Ozy, Ozy, Oy, Oy, Oy…
41
very appropriate
20
Way back in the nineteen thirties a man called Jacobs made wind generators for rural communities in the USA. Wooden propellers he single handed kept carving his props and testing them thus they would capture all the wind, so good did he get them that a candle would not be blown out behind them in a strong wind. His research resulted in the formulae for making props for aircraft good man. One of his wind generators was installed in the American Antarctic base in the in the late thirties. The yanks were totally surprised in the sixties when they return to the base that it was still working perfectly, that is real quality engineering.
200
Over the years, uneven ice build up would have affected the gear box bearings as well as extreme wind gusts. Bearings probably jammed up or the gear box could have iced up and in 40 knot winds the whole blade and generator assembly could not withstand the force brought to bear. Part of a blade may have come away with fatigue. THIS REALLY IS NO BASE POWER TONY
70
From the photo it appears that the whole nacelle has broken from the pylon!
Therefore corrosion or fatigue of the pylon ios suspected.
30
Actually there is a better photograph here.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-08/mawson-antarctic-wind-turbine-failure-investigated/9130554
It looks as though the failure involves the rotation bearing at the top of the mast.
40
That was one very lucky black bird flying past.
20
Uneven ice build up on the blades would cause it to shake itself apart. My guess is that they didn’t de-ice the blades.
40
The other possibility is that bird guts unbalanced the blades …
70
On a more serious note this incident is another embarrassment for the Australia’s Antartic research Station at Mawson. Looks a proper mess on the ground; all sorts of contamination to be cleaned up.
One has to ask just what other environmental issues or damage, may have occurred, and is proper and due diligence being taken to preserve the pristine nature of this remote and isolated place on our planet.
GeoffW
130
Over the past 50 years, I have met three diesel fitters who have had stints in the Antarctic.
They commented that it is a joke – run by scientists with a few engineers who would not get a job in the real world.
120
Agree GeoffW. The site looks like a junkyard with no apparent rhyme or reason to the way things are scattered–a disorganized mess. Are there Australian or international pollution control regulations in the Antarctic? If so, I bet Mawson is in violation of every rule/restriction. Also looks like there is no erosion control.
70
***”give”?
8 Nov: RenewEconomy: Giles Parkinson: Australia wins early Fossil award as Syria leaves US alone on climate
The one achievement the Australian government can claim since the election of the Coalition government in 2013 is a virtual mortgage of the Fossil of the Day awards at the annual UN-sponsored climate talks…
Australia has dominated the awards at the last few COPs (conference of the parties) ever since the Warsaw COP when then prime minister Tony Abbott ordered the Australia delegation to do an about-face on its previous negotiating stances.
At the Fiji-hosted, but Bonn-located climate talks that began on Monday – and which will help set the rules of the treaty, and lay a path for countries to ramp up their targets – Australia was quickly out of the blocks to seize the first fossil award, thanks to its support of the Adani coal mine…
CAN (Climate Action Network) said in a statement: …“Australia can’t sign up to the Paris agreement and then ***give almost $1 billion to Adani to build the world’s biggest coal mine. It is putting short term profits ahead of the future of entire nations.
“The age of fossil fuels is over. Australia must prove it is serious about limiting warming to 1.5 degrees if it wants to reduce the frequency and severity of natural disasters, from strengthening Pacific cyclones and sea level rise to extended bushfire seasons and bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.”…
http://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-wins-early-fossil-award-as-syria-leaves-us-alone-on-climate-62649/
8 Nov: SBS: AAP/SBS wires: Crowdfund helps Fijian activists take home truths to UN climate conference
Australians have crowdfunded the travel for young Fijian environmental activists to take the message of ordinary Pacific Islanders to the UN climate conference…
“Most discussions are looking at 2020, 2050 and for us it’s happening now,” Ms Rabukawaqa said.
“As far back as five years ago, that’s when the first village was relocated because of rising sea levels.”
Those rising sea levels are now eroding the beaches in Mr Kuridrani’s home of Matakula, where they’ve started planting more mangroves in a bid to stop the erosion and adapt to climate change.
“We hope that’s not going to be the way forward, to keep adapting to it,” he told AAP.
“We want world leaders to actually work together and reduce their carbon emissions and stick to the 1.5 degree Paris target that was agreed on.”…
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/11/08/crowdfund-helps-fijian-activists-take-home-truths-un-climate-conference
31
Hmmm.
Several studies attribute the erosion to other than sea-level and CAGW http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=76564 and an older paper (1990) showing the problem isn’t really all that new, at least on part – http://hydrologie.org/redbooks/a192/iahs_192_0014.pdf
30
8 Nov: Bloomberg: As Trump Steps Back From UN Climate Talks, Coke and HP Move In
By Jennifer A Dlouhy
Coca-Cola Co., Mars Inc. and HP Inc. are planning to tout U.S. progress in cutting emissions. A Citigroup Inc. vice president is set to elaborate on how finance can help the world reach the Paris goals. A Berkshire Hathaway Inc. executive is scheduled to discuss how markets can drive carbon reductions.
“We’re all playing a role in moving this forward,” said Nate Hurst, HP’s chief sustainability officer. “Our customers, some of which are right here alongside us on these panels, and the investment community are expecting this.”…
The next two weeks may reveal whether the unofficial delegation will be enough to convince leaders in Beijing, New Delhi and Brussels to continue to fight climate change — or if the skepticism in Washington spurs them to back off as well…
Many of the events are being held at a “U.S. Climate Action Center” — a city-block-sized pavilion next to the formal negotiation site. Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Hewlett Foundation and NextGen America, founded by hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer, are the top funders of the pavilion. Michael Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News…
“The bad news is obvious, which is this administration is a bunch of climate deniers, and we will look pathetic,” said Carol Browner, who was Obama’s top climate adviser…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-08/as-trump-steps-back-from-un-climate-talks-coke-and-hp-move-in
8 Nov: EU Observer: EU needs emissions deal to avoid ‘shame in Bonn’
BRUSSELS: Key members of the European Parliament’s largest group said on Tuesday (7 November) that EU legislators should agree on the reform of the EU’s emission trading system (ETS) this week or face embarrassment at the climate negotiations in Bonn.
“It is important that we could reach an agreement tomorrow because Bonn has started yesterday,” said Belgian MEP Ivo Belet, who follows the file for his group, the European People’s Party (EPP).
“It would be a pity if the EU couldn’t go to Bonn with this trophy,” he added, noting that his centre-right group was “ready to compromise.”
Belet spoke to a group of journalists on Tuesday morning, flanked by his EPP colleagues Peter Liese from Germany and Esther de Lange from the Netherlands…
The ETS requires several thousands of industrial emitters in the EU to pay for their CO2 emissions by handing in carbon credits.
The system has been plagued by a glut of allowances and a much-lower-than-expected carbon price, which the reform hopes to resolve…
Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom recently signed a letter saying that the fund “should not be used to support any solid fossil fuels-based energy generation”.
But Poland would be interested in using the fund to modernise its coal-fired power plants.
German MEP Liese said that Poland “is a big member state” and that it would be good if it was on board on the final agreement, but he also stressed that the Council will vote with a so-called qualified majority, meaning that Poland could be outvoted…
Environmental campaign group Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe on Tuesday called on the EU “not [to] bend to the Polish government’s demands.”
“The Polish government has been running a protracted and bitter campaign to sabotage the integrity of the EU’s carbon market. It has put relentless efforts to allow the ETS to subsidise Polish coal plants instead of making them pay for their pollution,” the group said in a statement.
https://euobserver.com/environment/139791
meanwhile, MSM are giving credence to a “StopAdani” poll, for which ReachTel provides no methodology that I can find:
8 Nov: SBS: AAP: Adani should not get loan: Qld voter poll
A new poll commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance shows 70 per cent of voters don’t want the Indian miner to be given a taxpayer-funded loan…
41
The Stop Adani Alliance has the ABC as its chief sponsor.
50
Cripes! Cokes taken over from President Trump.
That’s a gas.
Will Coke buy Carbon Offsets for all the CO2 that it allows to escape into the atmosphere every time a can is ripped?
Now, that really would be the real thing.
60
7 Nov: UK Daily Mail: AP: German Greens signal flexibility in coalition talks
BERLIN (AP) – The leaders of Germany’s Green party are signaling that they may drop demands for a 2030 deadline to phase out combustion engines and shut coal-fired power stations as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government-building efforts intensify…
Greens co-leader Cem Ozdemir signaled in an interview with the daily Stuttgarter Zeitung published Tuesday that his party will soften its demand, much criticized by its prospective partners, to stop registering new cars with gas or diesel engines in 2030…
The party also has called for coal-fired electricity plants, currently a significant source of energy for Europe’s biggest economy, to be shut by 2030. But chairwoman Simone Peter told the Rheinische Post daily it is “pragmatic” on “whether the last coal-fired power station goes offline in 2030 or 2032,” and that the key is reducing carbon dioxide emissions…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-5057591/German-Greens-signal-flexibility-coalition-talks.html
7 Nov: Bloomberg: Siemens Slashes Jobs Amid Double-Whammy Power, Wind Slumps
By Oliver Sachgau With assistance by Brian Parkin
Siemens AG’s plan for significant job cuts at its power-and-gas division is set to follow a move by its renewables arm to shed nearly a quarter of staff, laying bare how the transformation of global energy markets is roiling equipment manufacturers.
Talks between management and unions are expected to lead to an announcement mid-November on the elimination of an as-yet-undetermined number of mostly German positions, according to an executive familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are ongoing. The Munich-based company’s renewable energy arm, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA, said Monday it’s eliminating about 6,000 positions…
The wave of job cuts is shaping up to be the biggest since Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser slashed 4,500 positions in 2015…
The reshaping of Siemens, along with the redundancies, comes as rival General Electric Co. also grapples with weak markets in power, oil and locomotives…
The job cuts at the mother company Siemens come amid a steep drop in orders for large turbines used in electricity plants. Pricing pressure has forced both Siemens and GE to sell the equipment cheaper, according to the Siemens executive.
The company is projecting global power-plant turbine demand to drop to 111 annually on average during the period between 2018 and 2020, compared to 249 in 2011, the person said, adding that the company can produce about 150 turbines per year…
Siemens is getting hit from both sides of the global transformation to more renewable energies. While customers are moving away from ordering large natural gas-fired turbines, moves by governments from India to the U.K. and the U.S. to scale back incentives for renewables has forced manufacturers like Siemens Gamesa to cut costs…
Siemens Gamesa unveiled its job cuts Monday along with earnings, saying it expects a similarly bleak next fiscal year — a longer slump than analysts had predicted…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-07/siemens-is-said-to-ready-job-cuts-amid-slump-in-power-orders
31
An engineer’s phrase, surely? ..’trying to collect dilute energy across a HUGE AREA with heavy machinery in extreme conditions. What could possibly go wrong?’ ….. Joannenova, you have Fairly hit that nail on the head. With your prominent well-read blog, here. From other chunterings from the Prof. Engineering world, they are mostly, publicly, on the Gravy train. Don’t stop it, we’re too big, etc etc….. But some of us Engineers, with Agri credentials, know & understand that CO2 is an important food element for plants, and indeed without CO2, we, humans, would have problems with too much O2 in the air. ( WHY do we want to REDUCE our Carbon Footprint? )
What I do want to add though, is that old chestnut, – ‘… we can send craft to the moon and back or far out into space for YEARS, with unknown extremes of temperatures and other elements, and they continue to work, but come closer to home and all goes wrong…..’ W H Y ?
Yes I know from my own post-grad experiences, that we have to sometimes re-invent the wheel….. GKN’s square tractor wheel did NOT work very well despite all the calculations, but u tube is full of the latest replacement wheels: if you don’t try you have no progress. The wisdom is KNOWING What, When, and Where to try the new research. Collecting dilute energy is a non-runner IMHO UNLESS it “FALLS from the skies”
71
If windmills were even half sound,
Not one should fall to the ground,
But towers and blades,
Have crashed down in spades,
In wide fields of debris earthbound.
180
8 Nov: Deutsche Welle: EU proposes 30-percent CO2 reduction for cars by 2030
The EU Commission wants carbon dioxide emissions from cars to be reduced by 30 per cent by 2030, it announced on Wednesday. Opposition has been strong, not least from the powerful German car industry.
By 2025, the Commission wants new cars to emit 15 percent less CO2, with the 30-percent rate kicking in five years later. Carmakers who fail to hit the desired targets would, under the proposed legislation, be subject to penalties of up to €95 ($110) for every gram of CO2 above the prescribed limit, which could lead to potentially huge fines in the event of wholesale flouting…
One carrot-and-stick element of the EU’s proposal relates to the introduction of zero and low emission vehicles, such as electric or alternative fuel vehicles. If carmakers hit a benchmark target figure in the production of these type of vehicles, they will be able to offset their overall emission reduction targets…
Yet the main target figures have been the source of major debate at EU level, with significant opposition and fierce lobbying coming from car industry representatives right up until Wednesday morning. Large automotive sectors, such as Germany, have had a particularly big role in the discussions.
While the proposals are now past the first major stage of the legislative process, they must be approved by the 28 members states of the EU and by the European Parliament before becoming law…
http://www.dw.com/en/eu-proposes-30-percent-co2-reduction-for-cars-by-2030/a-41295525
8 Nov: Financial Times: New EU vehicle emissions rules disappoint climate activists
by Rochelle Toplensky
The EU has also promised to invest €800m to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout the bloc and €200m investment into battery production, to encourage the electric vehicle adoption.Maros Sefcovic, European Commission vice president, said the proposals balance climate change concerns and the long-term competitiveness of European industry…
However, environmental campaigners had hoped for a bigger cut in CO2 and binding targets for electric vehicles that could not be offset against emission reduction requirements.
“The Commission has gifted the car industry an ineffective regulation after they came calling,” said Greg Archer, clean vehicles director at Transport & Environment. “Removing the penalty for failing to meet zero-emission vehicle targets is an own goal. It amounts to handing the global leadership on electric cars to China, which will be delighted to export their models to Europe, jeopardising jobs in Europe’s auto industry.”
behind paywall:
Electric cars’ green image blackens beneath the bonnet
Research into the lifecycle of electric vehicles is a wake-up call for an industry geared up to promote ‘zero emission cars’
Financial Times – 8 Nov 2017
30
next we’ll have BHP alongside StopAdani and GetUp! protesting mining!
8 Nov: ABC: BHP backs green groups over the Minerals Council as industry rift widens
By business reporter Liz Hobday
The rift between the world’s biggest mining company, BHP, and the powerful industry lobby group the Minerals Council of Australia has just grown wider.
BHP has told environmental groups it does not support elements of a campaign by the Minerals Council to impose greater control on their spending.
The extraordinary split comes as BHP reduces its carbon emissions and the Minerals Council doubles down on its support for coal.
It is an unusual alliance to say the least — a mining giant siding with green groups against the powerful lobbyists working for its own industry which it helps bankroll.
Australian Conservation Foundation president Geoff Cousins welcomed BHP’s action…
Because the ACF is a charity, people who make a donation can claim a tax deduction.
But there is a push within the Federal Government to make the ACF and other charities spend a slice of their money on non-activist efforts, or lose their charity taxation status.
The Minerals Council is backing the changes, which could neutralise its biggest opponents…
“We do not support changes that limit public advocacy to 10 per cent of funds, or requirements to spend 25 per cent of funds on environmental remediation,” BHP told five environmental and community groups it wrote to.
“We have made our views known to Government,” the company continued.
BHP also set out its broad support for the advocacy work of charities, describing it as, “An important contribution to public policy development and the democratic process”.
The ABC approached the Minerals Council but it declined to comment…
At a recent meeting with BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie, the ACF’s Geoff Cousins told him that BHP should quit the Minerals Council altogether…
BHP says it will complete a review of its membership of industry associations by the end of the year.
But activists hope next week’s AGM is D-Day, with the board facing a resolution to dump the Minerals Council.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-08/bhp-minerals-council-rift-widens/9130680
20
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/07/nasa-volcanic-magma-plume-under-antarctica-may-explain-ice-sheet-instability/
30
Those turbine blades are airfoils, exactly the same thing as the wings of an airplane. Does anyone designing these things understand that in moving air those blades have a lot of drag — force against them in the direction of the wind? They don’t just sit there inert. You don’t get energy from the wind for free anymore than you do from anything else.
The drag will be a lot greater than that of a vertical vane of the same thickness and length with its edge facing the wind but generating no rotational force to drive the generator.
The fact that the nacelle at the top of that tower must rotate around its vertical axis creates a structural weakness that all that drag will exploit if it can and down it comes.
60
Feathering those blades in a high wind is as good an idea for the windmill as it is for an airplane with an engine out. It gets you the least drag. But of course you also get no power.
60
Imagine the headlines if the backup diesels suffered equivalent damage because of the high wind, regardless of their age.
I think you’re seeing a good object lesson in the relative safety and reliability of various generating technologies.
70
The collapse was probably due to brittle failure of the tower at ambient wind speeds – very common for circular towers anywhere on the planet.
I take it that this particular failed wind turbine failed the carbon-footprint test.
60
The failure appears to be at the ring bearing at the top of the tower that supports the nacelle and allows the turbine to face the wind direction.
Others above make a good point about blade imbalance due to ice causing vibration. That could set up higher than usual stress cycling and the weak point happened to be the ring bearing.
The temperatures at Mawson are not cold enough to cause accelerated fatigue failure. However still a tough environment with salt laden air and water turning to ice probably on a daily basis at certain times of the years.
30
Brittle fracture of the steel tower could easily occur at those temperatures or higher if the steel was incorrectly specified or of low quality, the Liberty Ship structural failures of WW2 being classic examples. Or cheap Chinese steel as used in the SA pylons that blew over.
31
As David Maddison says in his post $28.1.1 the mass produced Liberty ships of WW2 suffered serious metal embrittlement problems under the cold conditions of the North Atlantic.
the Liberty ships were all built in a number of shipyards using identical processes. It was found that the ships operating in the high latitudes of the North Atlantic in the very cold regions of the Atlantic suffered a lot more metal fractures and metal fatigue than those running in the warmer waters of the lower, more southerly Atlantic latitudes.
Mawson Station, the oldest antarctic station south of the Antarctic circle is located where the Katabatic winds pour down from the much higher elevations of the inland ice cap.
To quote from the Antarctic divisions Mawson station site;
Which quite likely leads to the wind turbines being braked and shut down during the periods of very high wind speeds.
.
[ From “coolantarctica”
Highest recorded wind speed at Mawson = 248.4 KPH, ;
Mean daily minimum temperature ; August -21.6 C
Lowest ever temperature ; July -36 C
Mean 3 pm wind speed ; August 42.6 kph ]
.
Constant high wind speeds also lead to much higher frequency vibrations throughout any structure that is not very specifically engineered to cater for such constant high velocity winds.
[ As an example of these inherent vibration frequencies in all metal structures, an extreme example is the avoidance of running piston engines within a tight range of specific RPM’s as the natural frequency of the engine structure coincides with the frequency of that range of RPM’s and leads to runaway vibrations that will destroy the engine.
Vehicle engines are engineered to always operate outside of this frequency range so don’t suffer any effects under normal usage.
A couple of models of aircraft piston engines can never be operated within a specific RPM range and have to transition through that RPM range to avoid damage ]
The other and possibly major factor in the collapse of the turbine is rapid transition of most common steels from a ductile internal structure in the steel to a crystallised structure that is an embrittlement of the steel once the temperatures get down to around minus 20C and below.
Effects Of Low Temperature on Performance of Steel & Equipment
So if the Wind Turbines at Mawson were just off the shelf buys with some superficial “she’ll be right”, cold weather modifications to keep prices down, a highly likely situation given government and bureaucracy purchasing procedures , the turbines might well have a very cold soaked highly susceptible to fatigue crack propagation, metal and steel components and structures and construction.
Which would reach a peak potential structural embrittlement period particularly around that very cold mid winter/ August period, leading to unpredictable failures when the cold embrittled steels finally give way as the cracks and metal fatigue from the high velocity and very variable Katabatic and no doubt often turbulent windspeed effects spread and propagate through the critical steel and highly loaded and stressed components of the turbine’s nacelle and blade structures leading a catastrophic failure of the turbine structure.
70
The wind turbines were erected at Mawson Base in Antarctica in 2003 so with a life so far of 14 years they are about two thirds of the way through the 20 or so years of economic life of any turbine.
Which in that Antarctic environment its probably about as good a lifetime as one can expect from wind turbines.
An economic life time probably a bit less than the the economic life of a pair of diesel generators which would have cost probably a quarter or much less than that of the cost of the two wind turbines and their installation and maintenance of the turbines, the maintenance cost of which was probably quite horrific in that environment.
The ONLY saving grace being not having to ship in and store a lot of diesel fuel for the diesel generators although a diesel fuel supply sufficient to run the diesels between supply ships would be needed to be stored if the turbines failed or fell over.
30
They did better than those at Murmansk
https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/the-murmansk-wind-park-that-collapsed/#more-34566
30
Those Murmansk wind turbines aka windmills sure are itty bitty little turbines with a few metres diameter rotors compared to the big very expensive, equally subsidised and brittle and unreliable wind turbines that are the hallmark of renewable stupidity through out the western world.;
At least some western diplomat can now boast to Putin, “Mine’s bigger than yours”!
.
I guess you could label those Murmansk turbines as PUPS ; “Pitifully Underperforming Producers of Stuff all”
And solar panels at 59 degrees north !!!! ???
At least the solar panel installation pictured seems to have the correct degree of angle so as to catch as much sunlight as possible; ???
From “The Independent Barents Observer”
The Murmansk wind park that collapsed
10
The E-30 wind generators were specifically designed for cold weather use:
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/magazine/2001-2005/issue-6-autumn-2004/feature/mawson-antarcticas-first-wind-powered-station
10
O/T
Now they’re claiming that SA has the cheapest power in Australia.
http://www.afr.com/news/south-australias-power-now-cheaper-than-coalfired-states–ross-garnaut-20171106-gzfqaf
40
The link goes to an AFR log in page.
10
Sorry, I can’t find another source. I posted the article but it went to moderation.
[If you post the entire article that is not legal. A summary plus the link would tell everyone what’s there and would have no legal implications. Excerpts, not too large, are fair use but copying the entire article is not. A summary in your own words can be longer but avoid quoting large parts of the text.] AZ
40
AZ, we don’t have ‘fair use’ provisions in Australian Copyright Law, we only have ‘fair dealings’ provisions, which are a lot more prescriptive than the ‘fair use’ provisions in US Copyright Law. The distinction might hinge on where Jo’s blog is hosted. It has an Australian URL but it probably is a US hosted Word Press blog. It has been a big discussion topic of recent times and there is a push to adopt the US provision of ‘fair use’. QUT are big advocates for the change (as well as big advocates of Open Access policy for scientific publications). Check this discussion for a bit of an overview.
https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/07/fair-use-vs-fair-dealing-how-australian-copyright-law-differs/
10
Rick,
you have to copy the link into word or notepad, remove the hyphens in the sentence (find and replace with space) then copy and paste the new link into a google search. make sure you copy just the link sentence ie in your link drop everything after Garnaut and before South. eg “south australias power now cheaper than coalfired states ross garnaut”
usually the second link gets you through the first is normally to the subscribe page, although in this case the first link worked.
30
Why don’t windmill towers have helical strakes around them to shed vortices like industrial smoke stacks do?
This would reduce wind-induced vibration and thus metal fatigue which I imagine was a likely contributor to the failure.
And there is nothing more beautiful than a dead windmill.
40
Dead windmills are good windmills, David.
Don’t give the incompetents your expertise for free on how to fix Windmill Sudden Death Syndrome (WSDS).
Make the lazy sods think for themselves. 🙂
40
Apart from diesel the other obvious power solution in Antarctica is a small nuclear reactor. The Americans did actually have a reactor in Antarctica in the 1960’s but it was an expensive failure and it was out of action most of the time, diesel again saving the day. Nevertheless small reactor technology has moved on since then and if a rational mindset existed it could be reconsidered.
51
If wind is so wonderful why do they even have a diesel generator?
Ha ha, no interconnector to another grid to suck power from. I guess the diesel is “the other grid”.
61
Well I guess an engineering mishap with a wind turbine proves AGW is a hoax 🙂
You could show photos of all the wind turbines that didn’t fall over.
313
I guess its presence means at some stage we shipped 40 tons of concrete and reo to Antarctica to build this thing??
72
https://youtu.be/wfzgIxMEo8g
11
‘…AGW is a hoax.’
Undoubtedly.
51
For Harry Twinotter
.
The following comes from the Caithness Wind Information Group’s Summary of Wind Turbine Accident data to 30 September 2015:
.
“Our data clearly shows that blade failure is the most common accident with wind turbines, closely followed by fire. This is in agreement with GCube, the largest provider of insurance to renewable energy schemes.
In June 2015, the wind industry’s own publication “WindPower Monthly” published an article confirming that “Annual blade failures estimated at around 3,800”, based on GCube information.
A GCube survey in 2013 reported that the most common type of accident is indeed blade failure, and that the two most common causes of accidents are fire and poor maintenance
&
GCube Top 5 US Wind Energy Insurance Claims Report
Since 2008, [ to 2013. i.e.; 5 years ] GCube has paid out over $200,000,000 in claims to the renewable energy industry, with the majority of this figure coming from the wind sector. As a result of GCube’s long established history and leadership position in the industry, this amount far exceeds that of any other insurer in the renewable energy space.
61
Oh Harry Twinotter,
if wind towers are the supposed answer to the AGW question, then I’m afraid someone is asking the wrong question.
Tony.
91
Wind turbines are one of two answers to the question, what is the best way to destroy Western Civilisation? The other as we all know is to import into civilised countries the world’s most uneducated, unassimiliable and violent people.
91
Can anyone explain that link about SA having cheapest price in Australia?
It seems to me this is actually the bid contact price and its so low because they literally have no new bitterness willing to sign up, I.e. they are being abandoned by industry.
They may actually end up with the lowest electricity prices, but they won’t have a job.
40
You wont see any covering of this and the subsequent clean up on the mainstream media, especially of course the ABC.
31
Hahahahhahahahahahhahahahhahahahhahaha!!!
Honestly there is nothing else I can say
🙂
20
‘Dilute’ is a word you need to keep using Jo. People need to understand that if coal were whisky, wind would be some type of barely alcoholic light beer.
50
I like to think of it as sending a
boybaby to do a man’s job.10
8 Nov: USA Today: Exclusive: EPA’s Pruitt vows to continue rolling back rules despite alarming climate report
by Ledyard King
WASHINGTON: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said a newly released government report that lays most of the blame for the rise of global temperatures to human activity won’t deter him from continuing to roll back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, a major rule aimed at combating climate change.
“We’re taking the very necessary step to evaluate our authority under the Clean Air Act and we’ll take steps that are required to issue a subsequent rule. That’s our focus,” Pruitt said in an interview with USA TODAY Tuesday. “Does this report have any bearing on that? No it doesn’t. It doesn’t impact the withdrawal and it doesn’t impact the replacement.”
In his first public comments since the Trump Administration released the National Climate Assessment Friday, Pruitt said the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last year to suspend the regulation until legal challenges are resolved has “created great uncertainty” about the current regulatory framework.
The EPA is in the midst of drafting a replacement rule that will have to be as legally defensible as the very rule targeted for elimination as environmental groups are already threatening legal action.
“Our job is to administer statutes,” Pruitt said, explaining the limits of what EPA can do. “We have to act (based) on the authority given to us by Congress.”…
Pruitt Tuesday downplayed the importance environmental groups have placed on the report, saying the assessment is part of the ongoing debate between scientists over the causes of and responses to warming temperatures.
“Obviously the climate is changing and has always changed, (and) humans contribute to that. Measuring with exact precision is very challenging,” he said. “So I think the report (is) good to encourage an open dialogue on this.”
The report concluded that global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has now passed 400 parts per million, a level that last occurred about 3 million years ago, when both global average temperature and sea level were significantly higher than today…
Other findings include:
Annual trends toward earlier spring melt and reduced snowpack are already affecting water resources in the western United States…ETC
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/08/pruitt-says-alarming-climate-report-not-deter-replacement-clean-power-plan/839857001/
7 Nov: SanFranciscoChronicle: Melody Gutierrez: At Tahoe, they’re off and skiing after early dusting of snow
Last ski season’s record snowfall kept some resorts open into July, and early forecasts are calling for another good year, said Andy Chapman, president of the Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau.
“The word I used to describe last year was relentless,” Chapman said. “It was a big winter. Forecasts are showing we should have what would be considered a normal winter, which is good.”…
In the last ski season, 800 inches of snow fell in some parts of the Tahoe area, twice as much as in an average year…
On Tuesday, the concern that followed years of drought had all but been replaced by the excitement of early snow. Boreal Mountain Resort in Soda Springs announced it would open Wednesday. Other Tahoe area resorts are expected to open over the next two weeks.
“Our new norm is becoming a six-month season,” said Siani Nau, a community relations manager at Mount Rose. “In the past, there wasn’t demand for late season. Now there is.”
At Mount Rose on Tuesday, the sky was clear and the temperature was 36 degrees…
“We’re excited about getting the season off to a good start,” Reitzell said. “We are hoping for a nice normal year of snowfall. Less than last year is fine with everyone, given the challenges the resorts had and the challenges the guests had getting up to the mountains.”
8 Nov: WeatherChannel: Arctic Cold to Invade the Northeast, Midwest, Threatening Daily Record Lows as Winter Makes a Brief Visit
by Brian Donegan
Early Snow in North America Breaks Record
Over one-quarter of the area of the Lower 48 had snow on the ground on Nov. 8. This is the largest areal coverage of snow on that date in at least 14 years, according to NOAA data.
Parts of the upper Midwest and northern Plains will see morning lows up to 30 degrees below average, with teens and even single digits likely in those regions Thursday and Friday…
A few areas near the Canadian border may see temperatures slip below zero Thursday or Friday morning in North Dakota and northern Minnesota. A few locations in eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota already dropped below zero Tuesday morning.
Low temperatures up to 25 degrees colder than average are currently anticipated Friday and Saturday morning from the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley into the Northeast. That means morning lows will be in the teens, 20s and 30s…
Daily record-low temperatures are a possibility Saturday morning in the Northeast. Here’s a look at the record lows to beat for Nov. 11 and the year they were set…GRAPHIC
These would be average lows one could expect around New Year’s Eve rather than Veterans’ Day…
https://weather.com/forecast/regional/news/2017-11-07-record-cold-temperatures-northeast-winter-chill
10
OT but the funniest ABC story (that was trying to be serious) I’ve heard in ages , is it any wonder the sheep would reckon their masters ?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-09/sheep-have-good-facial-recognition-systems-study/9132750
20
An observation about real world conditions.
The other day we copped a savage storm here on the midcoast, like much of the state. When I went to inspect the damage to the new bamboo poles (moso can go from nothing to a hundred feet around this time of year, so a new culm is little more than a fragile column of water) there were only a few breaks.
On the other hand, when a southerly wind persists at around 50 kph – sadly, the weather which brings a good spring season has to come hard from the south – over a day the breakages can be tragic. It’s one thing to withstand an almighty blast, but another to cop a steady wind causing an all-day harmonic or rhythmic effect you can’t account for in a simple stress test.
The Mawson Research Station only lost a stupid wind turbine which should never have been there…but I lose good moso culms!
40
This article is just begging for a Clark and Dawe skit “The top fell off”
20
8 Nov: Handelsblatt: The Burning Issue
As coalition talks reach a critical juncture over climate policy, dozens of leading German firms call on the future government to ditch coal power.
by Klaus Stratmann, Thomas Sigmund, Jürgen Flauger
More than 50 of Germany’s largest businesses, including industrial giant ***Siemens and retailer Metro, have called on the government to phase out coal power – just as the country’s Green Party dropped its demands for an immediate withdrawal. Construction firm Hochtief, software giant SAP and discount supermarket chain Aldi Süd were among the firms that now want ministers to put climate change at the top of their agenda.
Their appeal is timed to coincide with coalition talks underway in Berlin…
They also called for urgent steps to reach Germany’s 2020 goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 40 percent compared with 1990 levels, suggesting an increase in the price of CO2 emissions certificates and shifting to greener forms of transport. At present, experts estimate that the reduction will be just 30 percent…
That situation eased yesterday when the Greens backed off their demand that Germany’s 20 dirtiest coal-power plants close by 2020. They also rowed back on a long-standing policy that combustion engines be banned by 2030. Although condemned by environmentalists, the Greens’ announcement was welcomed by the other parties…
The managing director of the BDI Federation of German Industry, Joachim Lang, dismissed it as “one contribution among many” in the climate debate, while metal industry association WVMetalle said it didn’t reflect the views of German industry as a whole. “The benchmark for the feasibility of our future climate policy mustn’t only be the companies that benefit from a new business model, but also the ones that have to pay for these measures,” said WVMetalle’s managing director, Franziska Erdle.
***A closer look at the signatories shows that most of them have relatively low energy costs, and that some are benefiting from the green-energy revolution by selling products such as wind turbines or insulation materials. Many German firms are worried about their future energy bills if the country, whose electricity prices are already among the highest in Europe, steps up the pace of energy reform. “An overly hasty phase-out of coal-fired power plants would lead to power price increases,” warned Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff, president of the steel industry federation. He said that steel plants could face a 30 percent rise in energy costs if there were a rapid exit from coal…
In addition, there are fears that exiting coal just as Germany gets ready to phase out its last nuclear reactors by 2022 will endanger the stability of the power supply. While the proportion of renewable energy generation is steadily rising, there are still occasions when they need to be bolstered by conventional sources, including coal. “I’m in favor of assigning an equal ranking to the goals of climate protection, competitiveness and safeguarding the power supply,” said Rolf Martin Schmitz, chief executive of energy generator RWE, which is heavily invested in coal…
“Germany’s climate performance in the last four years is dominated by a growing rift between successful climate diplomacy at the international level and a virtual standstill on climate policy in Germany,” said Christoph Bals, political director of Germanwatch, an independent environmental group. His organization says the country’s emissions have virtually stopped declining since 1990, and that the new coalition must tap new technologies rather than coal if it is to modernize the country.
https://global.handelsblatt.com/politics/the-burning-issue-849539
8 Nov: UK Express: Tom Parfitt: ‘Merkel’s afraid of losing AGAIN’ AfD goads Chancellor and calls for new election
ANGELA Merkel is “afraid” to call a new German election because she fears she could be ousted as Chancellor, rivals have claimed.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel mocked Mrs Merkel for struggling to form a coalition after September’s election disaster…
AfD chief Ms Weidel said: “The Jamaican coalition talks have not progressed a millimetre for weeks.
“My expectations in this regard have now reached zero. None of the parties involved has made even a single substantive point.
“Of course we have to talk about new elections in the face of Jamaica failure…
“Apparently none of the other parties are able to fulfil the electoral mandate and to form a sensible government coalition.”…
The deadlock has plunged the European Union into a fresh crisis, with rookie French president Emmanuel Macron now its most influential leader.
If the talks fall through, a fresh vote could see more gains for the populist AfD…
An opinion piece published by the German newspaper Die Zeit newspaper earlier this week accused the Chancellor of lacking leadership.
The column raged about the “almost complete absence of Angela Merkel in public”…
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/877187/Angela-Merkel-Germany-election-AfD-Alice-Weidel-Jamaica-coalition-European-Union
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read all:
9 Nov: AFR: Paradise Papers: Loy Yang paid $1b dividend to Engie ahead of carbon tax
by Neil Chenoweth
Engie extracted a $1 billion dividend from its Loy Yang B power station at the same time as complaining that a $500 million handout was not enough compensation for the carbon tax.
The French giant paid itself nearly $1 billion in dividends in June 2012, days after the Gillard government awarded it $500 million in cash and tax credits for the carbon tax.
The financing strategy, which analysts say was aggressive but legal, left Loy Yang B’s banks seeking new guarantees from Engie and its partner Mitsui, and, by 2014, had put the group in danger of breaching loan covenants…
By 2015, Loy Yang B companies were reporting losses and a year later Engie decided to sell the power station, as part of a global exit from coal power plants…
Engie is expected to conclude the sale of Loy Yang B by Christmas.
http://www.afr.com/news/policy/tax/paradise-papers-loy-yang-paid-1b-dividend-to-engie-ahead-of-carbon-tax-20171107-gzgvo6
AUDIO: 3min13sec: 9 Nov: ABC: Paradise Papers: French owners of Loy Yang power plant exposed
By Michael Janda on AM with Sabra Lane
Documents reveal how it stripped a billion dollars from its Australian operations just days before receiving $117 million in carbon tax compensation.
The Loy Yang B companies had reportedly been giving loans, instead of dividends, to their parent companies in the UK, probably to minimise tax, but then created a complex tax avoidance scheme when laws in Britain were set to change.
Featured:
Michael Janda, ABC senior digital business reporter
Tristan Edis, Green Energy markets
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/paradise-papers:-loy-yang-owners-exposed/9132748
10
Joanne mentions this in her text for the Post:
Fat chance of that ever happening here in Oz.
There’s only one coal fired plant younger than those 14 years, and that’s the one at Kogan Creek (One Unit of 750MW) I mentioned earlier here, and that came online in 2007, so it’s ten years old.
The next three youngest are also SuperCritical, and also all in Queensland, Callide C (2 Units of 460MW each) opened in 2001, Millmerran opened in 2002, (2 Units of 425MW each) and Tarong North (One Unit of 443MW) opened in 2003.
Tony.
50
Strewth!
the front fell off!
00
excellent detail from Nitin Sethi & co:
7 Nov: Scroll.in: Fiji, presiding over Bonn climate talks, defers assessment of rich countries’ current commitments
India and other Like-Minded Developing countries protested the decision. They say this could raise doubts over promises rich countries make in the future.
by Nitin Sethi & Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava
Within minutes of the conclusion of the inaugural ceremonies on Monday, the United Nations climate change talks in Bonn hit a minefield. Fiji, presiding over the talks, deferred negotiations on assessing how developed countries have performed so far on their commitments to fight climate change by reducing emissions before 2020 and providing poor countries $100 billion annually to buy green technologies. This decision stunned India, China and other members of the Like-Minded Developing Countries group.
Formal negotiations on the issue were put off for at least the first week of the two weeks of negotiations at Bonn. The manner in which Fiji did so opened the possibility that negotiations on the subject could be dropped entirely from the climate change conference at Bonn…READ ALL
https://scroll.in/article/856956/fiji-presiding-over-bonn-climate-talks-defers-assessment-of-rich-countries-current-commitments
ClimateHome claims China – which is making billions from “renewables” & the CAGW scam – is not fully on board!
8 Nov: ClimateChangeNews: UN climate talks: India puts heat on rich countries, China takes softer stance
While India has loudly criticised a decision on the commitments rich countries made up to 2020, their partner in the ‘like-minded’ bloc was not like-minded
By Li Jing in Bonn
In the opening sessions, China and India, as part of a developing countries group, requested that a discussion of the promises laid down by rich countries to meet before 2020 should be included in the negotiation agenda.
Fiji presidency called for more consultation before deciding early next week. Indian negotiator Ravi S Prasad immediately said that if promises made to the UN were not taken seriously it could undermine trust in the process. Reports in the Indian media (LINK) suggested China and India were joined in angry protest at the decision.
Yet on Tuesday, Chinese officials were sanguine about the developments…READ ON
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/11/08/china-wont-back-indian-calls-climate-talks-pressure-rich-countries/
10
Fiji ‘presiding over’ Bonn climate talks.
Fiji sent 74 delegates to this conference, compared to 34 from Australia.
If Australia sent the same number of delegates per capita of population, we would be sending 2004 delegates.
What a junket.
Tony.
60
Bonn voyage!!!!
20
8 Nov: OilPrice: Irina Slav: Trudeau, Where Is Your Back Up Plan For The Arctic Ban?
When Canada’s federal government issued a five-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic at the end of last year, the environmentalist community rejoiced, just as it did in the United States, when the Obama administration did the same. Everyone seemed sure the move would bring benefits to everyone. Or perhaps they just didn’t really care that there are communities heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry for their livelihood.
Now, the premier of Canada’s Northwestert Territories has slammed Ottawa for its decision, along with others concerning the northern province, saying what we are witnessing today in that part of the world is “a return to colonialism.”
In a statement issued earlier this week, Bob McLeod said, “Restrictions imposed on our vital energy and resource sector – 40 percent of our economy and source of middle class jobs and incomes for many of our people – are driving companies away, and with that go the jobs that sustain healthy families and community life. Staying in or trying to join the middle class will become a distant dream for many.”
Earlier this year, when he had to defend the ban to a northern community whose livelihood depended on the oil and gas industry, PM Justin Trudeau said that while “one door of potential economic opportunity” has been shut, the government would work on all levels to open new doors. Those new doors, however, still remain undefined and, as such, provide little peace of mind for the local communities affected…
There is a strong enough argument against Arctic drilling: an oil spill there would quickly wreak havoc on extremely sensitive ecosystems and it would be a hell of a job to clean it up…
Yet there are also arguments in defense of drilling, however little environmentalists want to hear them. None of these arguments are new: The transition to all-renewable energy will be a slow one. Until it is complete, the world will need oil. A lot of this oil has already been depleted—and a lot of what remains is in the Arctic…
It’s no wonder that Norway and Russia, two other Arctic countries, are focusing a lot of efforts on Arctic oil and gas exploration. And while Russia is not famous for a strong environmental lobby, Norway is among the greenest countries in the world, so the fact that Lundin, Statoil, and other E&Ps are betting big on the Arctic should be telling…
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Trudeau-Where-Is-Your-Back-Up-Plan-For-The-Arctic-Ban.html
7 Nov: RT: US looks to push Russia out of EU’s energy market while American tankers ship Russian LNG to Europe
Tankers run by US energy corporations are delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) bought in Russia to the Antwerp Gas Terminal in Belgium, reports Belgian daily Le Soir, as part of an investigation based on the ‘Paradise Papers’ leak.
On Sunday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), reportedly financed through George Soros funds, released over 13 million documents from the world’s leading offshore law companies. The documents revealed that four cargo ships owned by Navigator Holdings bought gas produced by Russian petrochemical company Sibur…
The financial papers also revealed that US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has a 35 percent stake in Navigator Holdings, which is registered in the Marshall Islands.
Earlier this year, the Russian envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said the US wouldn’t be able to replace Russian gas on the European market even if it were free…
The probe reveals the EU, which is actively building new LNG terminals to lessen its dependence on Russian natural gas, is currently purchasing Russian fuel but at a higher price and technically not from Russia.
Washington seeks to effectively push Moscow out of the European gas market by particularly burying the Nord Stream2 gas pipeline project “with all sorts of legal decisions, instruments [and] sanctions,” Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in late September.
Over the last year, the US has increased LNG shipments to Europe, but it still covers roughly only six percent of European LNG imports, challenged by Norway, Qatar and Algeria, and not even taking into account natural gas supplies through other pipelines.
Meanwhile according to Gazprom, Russian share of the total European gas market reached some 34 percent last year. As a result, the US may be testing a new strategy to cut Europe off from Russian gas supplies.
“US companies are ready to search for one-use solutions that bring some profit to them but make it difficult for other states to do business. That characterizes the whole American approach to trade,” said Vladimir Bruter, an expert from the International Institute of Humanitarian and Political Studies, as quoted by Russia’s federal news agency…
In June, Washington introduced a new round of restrictions on Russia’s banking and energy sectors. Apart from imposing new sanctions directly on Russian enterprises, the law also envisages penalties for individuals and entities for investing more than $5 million a year or $1 million at a time in Russian energy export projects. It could also impose penalties on companies providing Russian energy sector enterprises with services, technology or information support.
In legal terms, the current situation is not breaking international or any other laws, but the results are yielding fruit for the US, according to the analyst. “Nothing personal, it is just business. Americans have bought Russian gas at a profit, and now they are selling it at a profit, concurrently trying to drive Moscow out of the energy market,” Bruter said.
https://www.rt.com/business/409028-russian-gas-sold-belgium-us/
20
pat:
Buying Russian gas and selling it to Europe is a strange way of excluding Russian gas from Europe, isn’t it? Sound like some of those who rushed into renewables are looking for a new source of wealth. Perhaps they will market it as emission free gas?
And looking at the Russian share of the European market I don’t see things changing.
20
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-09/northern-power-station-port-augusta-boilers-demolished/9134360
30
Odd isn’t it.
A 14 year old wind turbine nacelle falls down all by itself.
They have to blow up a 50 year old (plus) power plant to bring it down.
Tony.
110
Only in Australia do we have leaders who are willing to destroy coal fired power stations while others around the world are building large numbers of new coal fired power stations. I’ve given up on Australia. It has to learn the lesson the hard way. Let’s get it over and done with and put Shorten in power. That should knock some sense back into Australians. It would have the added benefit of getting rid of Turnbull once and for all, unless the Liberal Party is stupid enough to keep him on in which case they will self destruct and cease to exist.
70
A bigger risk is that Mal, having destroyed the Libs, will up and join the Labor Party, where he belongs, and do them over after shafting Electric Bill.
50
Hey,
Another one bites the dust,
Another one bites the dust.
And another one gone, and
Another one gone,’tis
The naychur of the brute,
Too tall, top-heavy, like
Some early naychur-experiment
that didn’t compute,
Another one bites the dust, yeah!
30
Is it just me or has all the ‘consensus’ sceance, ‘AGW/Climate change™’ believers staying very quiet?
Maybe it’s the cold weather, or a blackout or …
…Are they just staying in their virtual world caves, afraid to comment on blogs like this one, lest reality hits them again. After all their belief in CO2 global warming is looking very shaky as nature quietly goes about it’s business ignoring these deranged souls and their protestations of catastrophic AGW effects. Catastrophes that have little to no chance of happening.
Or maybe they’ve given-up, realized that nature does not follow orders even if they come from highly academic clowns like Hansen, Mann, Trenbath, etc…
Nature: 100
AGW Believers:-20
51
Or like me they lost the NBN for 24 hours (again) .
70
tomomason.
Cold weather? Who cares? The climate is not cold, it is a warm as ever. Warm records continue to outpace cold records.
Not a lot has been happening in the climate change discussion. The US is now the only country not joining the Paris Agreement, but that was expected.
The globe continues to warm, and the climate model projections are looking spot on with each passing year.
19
Ever being defined as “since when”?
And the only country to make substantial reductions in CO2 emissions in the last 15 years didn’t join Kyoto and has departed Paris.
61
Harry hits the nail on the head – again.
Harry, the pointy end is not the head.
41
And twotter’s head is not a hammer.
Poor lad has things well and truly mixed up, doesn’t he.!
31
My answer is below — in particular the one about France!
10
“Cold weather? Who cares? ”
So long as you have fossil fuel heating, you will be OK, right, twotter. 😉
41
“and the climate model projections are looking spot on with each passing year.”
ROFLMAO..
The peak of the El Nino, in the most corrupted temperature data in the world, barely reached the model average.
As the temperature drops, the models are looking more and more ridiculous against REALITY
Against REAL temperatures, the models look decidedly hilarious. (UAH in red)
https://s19.postimg.org/vju0f7neb/biggerfail.png
51
Harry that the best joke from you ever —
“The globe continues to warm, and the climate model projections are looking spot on with each passing year.”
Even those people tasked with running and maintaining the climate model do not have your rosy view of them. No the models admit they can not accurately forecast precipitation events, the polar vortex movements, and the still have no answer for why there is no TROPICAL UPPER ATMOSPHERIC HOT SPOT!
Science, especially ‘Climate Science™’ has been deflected from studying, researching and, explaining real ‘testable’ observed phenomena, and it has become a ‘high confidence’ belief system depending on the output of unreal computer models.
31
The Antarctic windmill proves that the desire to be “green” over rides any desire for common sense, a correct engineering solution, or economics.
91
It’s too bad they had a diesel backup. It would be better that they were reliant on the windmill and batteries and then there could be a dramatic survival plus rescue situation. It might have illustrated how useless windmills were.
In this context, the diesel gensets are the equivalent of coal, gas or nuclear power stations, power that is always available and cheap (in a free market), 24/7.
81
Off topic;
.
Looks like America’s clean coal CCS , [ Carbon Capture & Storage ] is finally dead which as anybody who had a close look at the technology and the geological requirements to store the “Captured” CO2 and the horrendous energy costs [ 40% more coal burnt just to capture and compress and liquify and pump the CO2 into the geological storage strata ] involved knew a long time ago the whole concept was nothing more than another tax payer rip off and the greens and climate change cultists pursuit of yet another climate change rainbow with yet another pot of CO2 gold supposedly at the end of that particular tax payer funded rainbow.
Via GWPF
With America’s ‘clean coal’ flagship dead, is the concept still credible?
.
US $7.5 billion later!
41
ROM.
Bring on the renewables. Reducing CO2 pollution was always the best way forward.
210
Like in Germany where 27,000+ wind turbines haven’t reduced emissions in the last 10 years or more.
61
A little happy reading for you Harry!
https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/the-murmansk-wind-park-that-collapsed/
42
The CO2 horsesh*t has to stop.
31
My answer is below — in particular the one about Germany!
30
Reducing the gas that feels ALL LIFE ON EARTH.
Yeah, great idea , bozo !!
42
And with 1600 new coal fired power stations being built around the world, there will still be PLENTY and PLENTY of atmospheric CO2 for many decade, centuries to come.
And there is nothing the CO2-hatred lobby can do about it.:-)
52
The only places on earth where wind power reduces fossil fuel consumption are locations that do not have industry and are not manufacturing said wing generators.
The simple fact is that wind generators cannot produce enough energy over their operating lifetime to enable them to be replaced with another turbine. Renewable energy that relies on wind and solar in its present technological form is UNRENEWABLE.
51
Uninformed as usual, renewables produce MORE lifecycle CO2 than Coal or Gas – Not less. They aren’t fit for the purpose you put them to. Then there is the inherently unreliable and diffuse nature of the energy sources they tap.
You never seem to get it Harry. Wind and Solar Power in a configuration that produces RELIABLE power does NOT save CO2 hence they make climate change worse (assuming that any nett weather effects were even significant)
00
Modern coal is extremely clean.
There is very little real pollution of any sort !
…. just H2O and CO2.
CO2 is never wasted. !
Plant life USES it to feed the world.
62
Meanwhile the Germans are rapidly running out of viable markets —
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2017/11/6-000-jobs-to-go-at-siemens-gamesa-as-power-division-faces-similar-cuts.html
30
And just to point out how stupid ruinable power is, France seeks to delays reduction of nuclear power…
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2017/11/france-delays-reduction-of-nuclear-power.html
So if they wish to maintain supply during a (maybe) cold winter turn to coal or nuclear… never ruinously intermittent power generation.
50
Meanwhile back in the world of sanity, both South Africa and Argentina want secure electricity supplies, so ruinous renewable take a back seat to NUCLEAR.
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2017/10/rosatom-signs-deal-to-build-south-african-nuclear-plant.html
And
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/content/pei/en/articles/2017/11/two-new-nuclear-reactors-planned-for-argentina.html
In the real world reliability of supply matters. Only in the unreal world of Green politics would anyone consider using unreliable sources of electricity as a viable way to power a country.
60
And if you think coal is loosing out —
From http://www.powerengineeringint.com/content/pei/en/articles/2017/10/thai-firm-to-build-2-8bn-coal-fired-power-plant-in-myanmar.html
Thai firm to build $2.8bn coal-fired power plant in Myanmar
30/10/2017 Thailand-based EPC firm TTCL announced it is set to build a $2.8bn coal-fired power plant in Myanmar’s southeast
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2017/10/bhel-starts-work-on-4-gw-supercritical-plant-in-telangana.html
40
A bit OT.
Has it been a cold start to November where you are?
Seems very cold here in Newcastle.
Melbourne is having its COLDEST start to November in 49 years…..
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/coldest-start-to-november-in-23-years-set-to-continue-20171104-gzf07g.html
According to news, UK is also set for a very cold November,
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/875231/Snow-weather-forecast-November-coldest-winter-heavy-snow-UK-BBC-weather
And looking through some news links I found Canada is in a deep freeze as well
http://www.620ckrm.com/2017/11/09/regina-experiences-coldest-november-9-in-98-years/
Then apparently US as well
https://www.agweb.com/article/the-us-witnessed-its-coldest-november-weather-in-38-years-ben-potter/
Anyone know how Europe and Asia are doing ?
31
There is certainly no evidence of abnormal global warming here.
41
Nor here in North Central Tasmania.
I went through an extra cubic meter of wood this winter, and have used a couple of hundred dollars of electricity since the firewood ran out.
41
Europe is starting to feel the cold, but not as bad as North America where record low temperatures are tumbling like nine pins. Forecasts indicate much more cold weather to come, with waves of Arctic winds dipping south from now till the end of December.
For Europe with both AO (Atlantic Oscillation) and NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) are heading to negative territory which is usually an indicator for very cold winters with high pressure blocking features encouraging Arctic winds.
The forecast (from CANSIP, UK Met Office, GFS Ensembles, CFS v2, ECMWF weather models)for Europe from now till Christmas is for icy blasts straight from the pole, a couple of days respite followed by very wet or snowy 5 to 7 days of storms.
Some forecasters in Europe are dusting off old reports of how the weather of the 1960s and 1970s formed and moved.
41
Just watched some video weather forecasts (mostly about Europe), however they did show the global view of probable weather for the coming month. The judgement of the Canadian (CANSIP), Japanese (JMA), and Chinese (BCC) weather models is for a cooler (1 or 2 degrees lower temperature anomalies [very model dependent]) and wetter than normal anomalies over most of Australia, the exception is the extreme South Australia and Tasmania where it is indicated to have warmer and drier anomalies [model dependent].
From the same models the USA will be warmer and drier than normal in the west especially the southwest, the rest of the US will have waves of severely cold air pushing down from the arctic.
CANSIP connection is via ‘tropicaltidbits.com’.
JMA
BCC and don’t forget to press “refresh” after changing parameters from the drop-down menu.
Caveat —
Of course what I watched was a few days old, and as with any of these model today’s output may be different. Also note all the models have a history of tending to run too warm when the wind and pressures are stable and average for the time of year (i.e. close to climatic normals) — unfortunately they all have this bias probably from the ‘climate model’ products that are in all the weather models.
00
OT but in the region
From https://co2islife.wordpress.com/2017/11/09/theres-a-huge-plume-of-magma-bulging-against-antarctica/
There’s a Huge Plume of Magma Bulging Against Antarctica
Ice and snow has been thawing and refreezing over the centuries due to volcanic heating. So how would all this volcanic activity have affect the carefully measured gases trapped in the ice-core?
31
“We,” paleface? Try to imagine for a second the shrieks were a piece that size to break off of any piece of equipment at a nuclear reactor plant transformer…
00