FACT CHECKING ANTI-WINDERS ON ‘ABANDONED TURBINES’

Anti-Wind Lobbyists Claim More Than 1 in 20 Wind Turbines Permanently Inactive. They’re Wrong, As Usual

Mike Barnard, March 3, 2013 (Barnard On Wind)

“…[A myth says] there are 14,000 permanently inactive wind turbines out there somewhere…The 14,000 number has been applied to the entire world, the continental United States and the confines of the state of California…[It is a] flexible and well-traveled myth…[that] started with Andrew Walden, a Hawaiian anti-wind activist in early 2010…[who claimed that in] ‘the best wind spots on earth, over 14,000 turbines were simply abandoned’…[without] any supporting evidence…

“A more realistic maximum number is at most 1% of installed wind turbines — perhaps 2,000 wind turbines — and perhaps 0.1% of generation capacity. And the number of permanently inactive wind turbines is diminishing as they are replaced with working modern turbines…[For] the worst-case ratio of inactive wind turbines…There are about 5,000 wind turbines installed at Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm and of these, approximately 100 are inactive…This ratio is 2%...”

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“…[Tehachapi] is at one of the oldest operational wind farms in the United States, where massive tax breaks combined with immature technology have created one of the highest ratios of inactive to active wind turbines in any location. The majority of the permanently inactive wind turbines were built in the 1970′s and are…being replaced with new generation capacity as part of the Tehachapi Pass Renewable Transmission Project…

“According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), there are just under 240,000 working wind turbines as of Q1 2013…14,000 wind turbines permanently inactive would represent about 6%...The number of 2% is likely much higher than the world wide reality, but if true would represent roughly 4,800 permanently inactive wind turbines…A more reasonable but still very conservative upper limit of 1% would bring that down to a maximum of 2,400 permanently inactive wind turbines…[About] 0.1% of total wind generation capacity…”

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