Yup that about hit the head on the nail.

Natural gas, cheapest cleanest electric generator. Wind farms would never have happened without Gov. intervention.

If deer hide, bed in woods right next to a busy hyway, why would the low noise of the blades bother them, hyway noise is much louder

Gas, oil, and all other forms of energy are subsidized. The tax credits for Wind are being phased out and that industry will be self sustaining in less than 4 years. Even without tax incentives the only power that is even close to Wind for low cost is natural gas. But wind power can offer flat level cost of energy over a 20 year contract. The reason you don’t see lowered rates after your utility buys wind power is because they take the money they saved and they pay for badly needed upgrades to their 40 plus year old infrastructure.

never happen, 1 megawatt per hour is what they make, 1 megawatt powers what ? 2 homes, at 1 million cost to install, a lifespan of 12 years and non-repairable they will never be self sustaining once the subsidies stop.
RR

X2 ........will never happen

We have several hundred wind towers just south of me. This summer will be another 80 going in north of my town. I don't like the looks of them, nor the noise they produce. People that live real close to them complain about the blinking red lights at night. On the otherhand, they pay hundreds of thousands in taxes to our county, which help the schools greatly. I guess if it was me, I would collect their checks and smile all the way to the bank. Sounds contradictory, but they are going to pay someone. Might as well be me. Oh, all the power generated goes to Omaha and Lincoln.

your tax dollars paid to put them in, those dollars would help schools also.
RR

here his the deal they offered us.....they are subsidized at 80%, they cost 1 million to install, so the green energy corps only have 200K invested, they have a max life span of 12 years but average 7, the green corps can make money at that cost after paying landowners 6K a year, the next mountain over they put 193 turbines up in 2010, 30% of which are dead, they do not repair them, they do not remove them. OK so they put 20 on your property, you make 120K a year for 7 years, then you lose 6, your at 84K for another 5 years, 840K +420K = 1260K, then like back in the early 70's gubmint like they did the mom and pop stores who had stores and went out of business with gas tanks in the ground, says you either clean it up or we will then charge you for it. whats the cost of dismantling and hauling off 20 of those things?
RR

If I was younger I'd start a business taking them down and recycling them. Should be able to get some Gov. money for that.

X2

I have a bunch of new ones around my place, the closest one just over a quarter mile. I was worried what they would be like, and fortunately they aren't that bad. Depending on the wind direction they make some noise, but the wind itself is usually louder. Don't really notice the blinking lights much anymore.

Ridge Runner, I’m not looking to argue, but all of the information that you posted is incorrect.

The way I see it your gonna be looking at the dog gone things for a long long time ! You may as well get paid for it, they are going to put them on your land or your neighbors land !

post your facts, I'm just telling you what the company rep relayed, and what an engineer from the power company told me.
Bet you'll also agree ethanol is a profitable business also.
RR

Well, I don’t intend to type a novel. I’d be curious what year the figures you posted were from. At one point those numbers may have been in the ballpark. Also, there have been many changes to how business is conducted in this industry. Very rarely are projects allowed to be installed without posting a bond to the county for the cost of removal which is updated every 5 years for the 20 year life span of the project.

They cost more than a million each to install, but most are now 2.5 MW or larger. They are either producing that amount of power or nothing, it’s not variable. 1 MW of power would be enough to power roughly 300 American homes on average.

Wind developers are making money on these projects, so no need to feel bad for them. BUT, in most cases, the companies that finance the projects are stripping their profits out in the first 7 years. The developers that sign the leases are often making their money after that time period. They literally can’t afford to leave any turbines in disrepair as early as 7 years.

I’ve not seen a land lease for the project referenced here, but most that I’m aware of are not contingent on the turbine producing power for the land owner to get paid. The land owner gets paid simply for it taking up the space regardless if it runs.

Original Poster, feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I have experience with the industry.

I agree that ethanol was hot and profitable when it was subsidized and there is a reason you don’t see new ethanol plants being built.

I'd hate to pay the electric bill in a house that uses .5 MW per hour.

Mike

well Cody drive to mount storm wv and see how many ain't spinning, it ain't like they can take them down, fix them and put's back up. I'm not sure how much a house uses, but I know this, the electrical engineer who is a friend said there is no way they can ever be feasible without subsidy from green team government, trump is pushing coal...whats the odds of them making it?
RR

I’m very familiar with that project. I’m not saying that there aren’t projects that have been improperly maintained. That project was difficult all the way around from the get go and it may be the companies decision to not fix them currently. There are still tax incentives that help wind projects, but I work in the wind industry and I’m not currently worried about my job or the presidents affect on our industry.

Like any industry, not everybody got it right, not all jobs are perfect and some of that earlier wind turbine technology wasn’t great. I can tell you that the scenario at Mt Storm is not the same story at all other projects across the country.

I may eat crow on that in a few years, but for the foreseeable future Wind is here to stay.