Brown County debating wind farm proposal

I am a landowner in Mills County and former Brown County resident. Where I can find a site map for the proposed Roadrunner Wind Farm project. Also, I am wondering when and where the next public meeting will be held.

My work email is ann.rohrer@cfisd.net
Thanks for your help.
Ann

Always some people who cry "NIMBY."

Ann Sellers wrote:

I am a landowner in Mills County and former Brown County resident. Where I can find a site map for the proposed Roadrunner Wind Farm project. Also, I am wondering when and where the next public meeting will be held.
My work email is ann.rohrer@cfisd.net
Thanks for your help.
Ann

Mills and Brown Counties are almost in the dead middle of Texas approximately where wind resources shift from Class 2 (forget it) to Class 3 (so-so). This means that it is not so much about the prospect of "going green" as it is for gaining the tax benefits from the construction of a wind farm in the area. Sounds like an easy decision to make for short term gains, but ulitimately, and very likely, the wind project may never prove economical and you may be left with a high altitude junk yard. Then you will not only have reduced land values but may be faced with the cost of removal of scrap windmills.
http://www.bergey.com/Maps/USA.Wind.Lg.htm

You are so right, Booner!! There is no money set aside for the removal of these giants which will be outdated and defunct in 10 years.

Wind energy is a feel good scam. It does nothing to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuel. Do not be hoodwinked into thinking we are helping the environment here. What we are helping are the foreign owned wind companies pad their pockets with our billions. Do they care about anything other than the big bucks? After they destroy the little insignificant land owners property, they are out of here! As was unwittingly admitted to a land owner at a pro-wind meeting.

Energy expert H. Douglas Lightfoot of Nobodysfuel.com has announced evidence that wind power is simply not green. He says, "The public is not aware that when any wind power is being delivered to a fossil fuel powered grid, the fossil fuel plant does not shut down because it takes too long to start up again when wind power stops. Thus when wind electricity is being delivered, fossil fuel is being burned and carbon dioxide is emitted. This is known as spinning reserve mode. Spinning reserve mode is like having your foot on the brake of your car waiting at a red light," Lightfoot explained. "Your car doesn't move, but the engine is still running. And the engine must run, because when the light turns green, you need the power immediately. Unfortunately, just like your car at a stoplight," Lightfoot explained, "spinning reserve mode consumes energy."
"Many people promoting wind power are not aware that large wind turbine projects can achieve no more than a 10% reduction in energy consumption or carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel plants for generating electricity," Lightfoot explained. "This is simply because more than 10% of intermittent wind power is too much of a shock to the grid, which becomes vulnerable to power delivery disruption. Furthermore, wind mills stop turning and producing power if wind speed is too low and stop suddenly when wind speed is too high--they shut down to try to prevent damage from high winds."

"The public is also unaware that every time a windmill is built to increase grid capacity," Lightfoot explained, "a backup system is required because the wind only delivers electricity about one-third of the time. The backup system must use a source of energy that is always available. For example, to increase grid capacity by an average of 100 megawatts (MW) requires 300 MW of installed wind generators. A reliable backup system would be a 100 MW fossil fuel powered plant. The backup system is absolutely essential for wind power to increase grid capacity, but is rarely, if ever, included in the cost of wind electricity."

Clear skies Texas wrote:

You are so right, Booner!! There is no money set aside for the removal of these giants which will be outdated and defunct in 10 years.
Wind energy is a feel good scam. It does nothing to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuel. Do not be hoodwinked into thinking we are helping the environment here. What we are helping are the foreign owned wind companies pad their pockets with our billions. Do they care about anything other than the big bucks? After they destroy the little insignificant land owners property, they are out of here! As was unwittingly admitted to a land owner at a pro-wind meeting.
Energy expert H. Douglas Lightfoot of Nobodysfuel.com has announced evidence that wind power is simply not green. He says, "The public is not aware that when any wind power is being delivered to a fossil fuel powered grid, the fossil fuel plant does not shut down because it takes too long to start up again when wind power stops. Thus when wind electricity is being delivered, fossil fuel is being burned and carbon dioxide is emitted. This is known as spinning reserve mode. Spinning reserve mode is like having your foot on the brake of your car waiting at a red light," Lightfoot explained. "Your car doesn't move, but the engine is still running. And the engine must run, because when the light turns green, you need the power immediately. Unfortunately, just like your car at a stoplight," Lightfoot explained, "spinning reserve mode consumes energy."
"Many people promoting wind power are not aware that large wind turbine projects can achieve no more than a 10% reduction in energy consumption or carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel plants for generating electricity," Lightfoot explained. "This is simply because more than 10% of intermittent wind power is too much of a shock to the grid, which becomes vulnerable to power delivery disruption. Furthermore, wind mills stop turning and producing power if wind speed is too low and stop suddenly when wind speed is too high--they shut down to try to prevent damage from high winds."
"The public is also unaware that every time a windmill is built to increase grid capacity," Lightfoot explained, "a backup system is required because the wind only delivers electricity about one-third of the time. The backup system must use a source of energy that is always available. For example, to increase grid capacity by an average of 100 megawatts (MW) requires 300 MW of installed wind generators. A reliable backup system would be a 100 MW fossil fuel powered plant. The backup system is absolutely essential for wind power to increase grid capacity, but is rarely, if ever, included in the cost of wind electricity."

Well CS Texas, as the old saying goes, don't feel like the Lone Ranger. There are incredible numbers of wind generators being built or projected purely because of the tax benefits for building them, not for the energy to be produced. That only translates to huge profits for foreign makers, nothing else. You would think that any community would at least check out the wind resources in the area before making commitments that are potentially worthless or at least hire an unbiased consultant to filter out the BS if they can't see it themselves. Honest to God, this aint rocket science.

I am a wind tech at the Capricorn Ridge Wind site in Sterling City, Tx. To be honest, I can't tell you much about how wind turbine electricity as far as how it affects the grid work of fossil fuel power plants. I can tell you that to say that power from the turbines does nothing to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuel is rediculous. I will admit that even if we were able to put up wind turbines in all of the areas that have high wind availability in the US, it would only contribute 20% of our power. I think that 20% of energy from a renewable source is better than nothing. I think that we all agree that we have to find alternative energy somewhere besides fossil fuel and that any effort to get away from our dependency on it should be applauded, not critisized. As far as there not being money set back to take these turbines down after their use, that is incorrect. I can't speak for other companies, but, I work for FPLE and we put aside money every month that goes toward the retirement of our turbines. That money is for removal of the turbines, wires, transformers, and everything else that belonged to the wind site. When we leave there will be nothing left of the turbines. Our company is also out of Juno Beach, Florida, not somewhere over seas.

Dale wrote:

I am a wind tech at the Capricorn Ridge Wind site in Sterling City, Tx. To be honest, I can't tell you much about how wind turbine electricity as far as how it affects the grid work of fossil fuel power plants. I can tell you that to say that power from the turbines does nothing to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuel is rediculous. I will admit that even if we were able to put up wind turbines in all of the areas that have high wind availability in the US, it would only contribute 20% of our power. I think that 20% of energy from a renewable source is better than nothing. I think that we all agree that we have to find alternative energy somewhere besides fossil fuel and that any effort to get away from our dependency on it should be applauded, not critisized. As far as there not being money set back to take these turbines down after their use, that is incorrect. I can't speak for other companies, but, I work for FPLE and we put aside money every month that goes toward the retirement of our turbines. That money is for removal of the turbines, wires, transformers, and everything else that belonged to the wind site. When we leave there will be nothing left of the turbines. Our company is also out of Juno Beach, Florida, not somewhere over seas.

Thanks for your comments as a wind industry tech. Yours is the first statement I have heard that affirms a responsibility to remove worthless/stranded windmills should they prove uneconomical. I can only hope that the promise will be fulfilled. Time will tell.

As for putting up more windmills, I think they are needed and I further hope that they will be placed only in areas of high wind availability. From what I have read and carefully observed, placing windmills in areas of high wind availability is not high on the priority scale.

On another note, you in particular as an energy industry tech should be more careful in you use of the terms "power" and "energy". Power does not = energy, so the terms should not be used interchangably. For instance, 20% of the power capacity on the grid by an intermittant source may only provide a very small percentage of the total energy output, depending upon location and wind availability. For a comparison, nuclear is only 10% of the grid's power capacity in megawatts, but it generates 20% of the grid's electricity in megawatt-hours.

My family owns a larger portion of land in Northeast Mills County and one of our neighbors has had a wind meter for the last 8-10 years determining the ability to have these turbines in Mills County. There is no clear evidence that this part of the county can support a wind farm. Time will only tell.