RE: GERMANY SUBSTITUTES WIND FOR NUCLEAR POWER

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@AECL.CA>]

I hope everyone noticed the contradiction between the two statements,



" Trittin told journalists in Berlin that the wind power plan could see

between 75 and 80 terrawatt hours of electricity annually from

offshore wind parks by 2030. This is equivalent to nearly 60 percent

of the nuclear electricity produced last year in Germany. "



and



" Trittin said that two areas of the North Sea have been identified as

appropriate for the construction of wind turbines which could total

4,000 by 2030. He said that the areas avoid all marine and bird

conservation areas. "



....because 75 to 80 terawatt hours of electricity annually comes to a

steady supply of about 8,790 MWe, which for the typical 25% average capacity

factor of windmills leads to a total installed capacity of some 35,160 giant

windmills, each with 1MWe theoretical capacity -- or about 8.8 times as many

as Trittin claims in the second statement (windmills as large as 1.5 - 2 MWe

have been built, but the 1MWe ones - and smaller - are much more common and

even the former wouldn't make up the factor-of-8.8 difference....).



Furthermore, if these windmills have 50-metre-diameter blades, and they are

spaced at 10 blade diameters by 5 blade diameters, it takes 0.125 square

kilometres per windmill, or 4,395 square kilometres total -- and since

Germany's North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts are only a few hundred kilometres

long, the rows of proposed windmills will be about 10 kilometres deep -- in

other words, the Germans can KISS THEIR COAST LINE GOOD-BYE !  ....any bets

on whether this will actually ever happen ?



.....but its encouraging that at least some folks over there are not blinded

enough to recognise that there are environmental impacts of such "green"

energy :



" Offshore wind power is contentious among Germany environmentalists

who are deeply divided about its environmental impact. The ministry

does not expect its plan to get an easy ride so it has invited

ecologists to a two-day congress this week to debate the

"integration of climate protection, nature protection, marine

protection and energy policy fit for the future."

<SNIP>



Jaro

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