Tag Archives: Hydroelectric power

There Really Is Something Ironic About This

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Lately those opposed to constructing wind farms off of our coast have cited the number of dead whales that have washed up on our shores since we started exploring on our shores and building platforms for those wind farms. There is also a move (which I admit I was unaware of) to construct floating solar farms. Aside from any other considerations, how much toxic liquid would a broken solar panel release into the ocean? I have no idea–I am simply asking the question.

On Thursday, Watts Up With That posted the following headline:

The World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm Wrecked by a Storm Just Before Launch

That can’t be good.

The article reports:

h/t Dr. Willie Soon; Who could have predicted acres of fragile floating structures would be vulnerable to bad weather?

Madhya Pradesh: Summer Storm Damages World’s Largest Floating Solar Plant at Omkareshwar Dam (Watch Video)

Indore: A summer storm on Tuesday damaged a floating solar plant at Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar dam. The floating solar plant, situated in the backwater of the dam, is the biggest of its kind in the world. A joint venture between  Madhya Pradesh Govt and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the project was nearly completed and ready for its launch. A part of the project became operational last week.

The project near the village of Kelwa Khurd, aimed at generating 100 MW of electricity, with additional capacities of 88MW at Indawadi and 90 MW at Ekhand village. However, on Tuesday, summer storms with the speed of 50kmph hit the project and threw the solar panels all around the place. No employee was fortunately injured.

The article concludes:

Plastics tend to disintegrate under tropical sunlight, especially when in contact with water or water spray. Ultraviolet from the sun drives exotic chemical reactions, which leads to chemical breakdown.

Metal sitting in water is difficult to manage, even stainless steel is not immune to corrosion. All metal structures in contact with water need to be protected with sacrificial anodes or comparable protective measures. Electricity and metal are an especially bad combination, any electrical fault which causes a current to run through metal in contact with water can cause corrosion to occur thousands of times faster than normal.

Let us hope developers and politicians take the hint, and stop throwing our money at inherently flawed ideas like floating solar arrays.

Sometimes things that look really good on paper just don’t work.

 

Green Energy Policies Have Consequences

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On Friday, PJ Media posted an article about the Swiss government’s winter plans for the Swiss people.

The article reports:

The alpine country — one of the wealthiest in the world — will severely restrict electric vehicles from its roads, according to a Daily Mail report. If the country runs out of power, EVs won’t be allowed out for anything but “essential” travel.

But the restrictions don’t end there.

The contingency plan calls for three levels of energy rationing.

Under the least extreme, most buildings would be limited to 20C (68F) and “people will be asked to limit their washing machines to a maximum of 40C [104F].”

Under the mid-tier, retail stores could find their hours reduced by two each shopping day, many buildings would have their heat limited to 19C (66F), and nightclubs wouldn’t be allowed any heat at all — although given the other restrictions, that point might be moot.

Sports stadiums? Closed. Movie theaters, too.

But the Swiss might not find much relief at home, either. Should the worst come to pass, gaming consoles and streaming services like Netflix will go on the verboten list.

The Swiss generate nearly two-thirds of their energy from hydroelectric sources that produce very little electricity during the winter months when the water is locked up as snow and ice.

Most of the remaining third of their power is produced by nuclear.

Maybe, given that their country is in the friggin’ Alps, they should have switched that ratio around, but no. Instead, the government has decided to eliminate nuclear power altogether.

The question I have after read this is, “Will the people who made these rules be subject to them?” There seems to be a pattern in many countries (including America) that the rules for the average citizen are very different that the rules for the ruling class. As the ruling class tells Americans to reduce their carbon footprint, they travel the globe in private jets. If climate change were truly an emergency (which I believe it is not), shouldn’t we all be required to make equal sacrifices? The fact that we are not all making equal sacrifices should be a clue that there may be something other than climate change at work.