The case for more Windmills

[BlasterBates]

...or maybe not:

populating the country with windmills just won't work. So why are we doing it?

Save the planet: Stop the Greens ? The Register

I just don't get why we're pumping tens, possibly hundreds, of billions into technologies like windmills, which we know won't work, to solar which doesn't need subsidies any more, but not willing to put money into other interesting things which might work, like thorium just as one example.

[Paddy]

...or maybe not:



Save the planet: Stop the Greens ? The Register

[EternalOptimist]

The case for windmills is simple.

They produce a miniscule amount of power, which, when sold back to the grid at 10p per kwh, means that they pay for themselves in a mere 125 years.
unless they get painted now and then , in which case they pay for themselves in 250 years.

But if the rest of the power generation is shut down, the cost of lekky will rise dramatically and these windmills will pay for themselves in ten years.

and in the meantime, the greens and the rest of us poor b@stards can freeze in the dark

[DimPrawn]

Simple solution.

Don't put them where it gets windy.

HTH.

[Fred Bloggs]

Simple solution.

Don't put them where it gets windy.

HTH.

Brilliant thinking. But, seeing as I very rarely actually see one going round and round, I believe that they have already worked that one out.

[OwlHoot]

I just don't get why we're pumping tens, possibly hundreds, of billions into technologies like windmills, which we know won't work, ..

It's because greens and socialist politicians have an old fashioned, childish view of technology being unworthy of the name if you can't see moving parts.

[Fred Bloggs]

How true.

That's right, off Liverpool Bay and the North Wales coast you can hundreds of the infernal things. I'd be amazed if they produced enough power between them to power a toaster. I really, truly despair of the supposed highly intelligent politicians can agree to an energy policy that guarantees the UK will have wide scale power cuts within the next 5 years as baseload coal and nuclear power stations are decommissioned with no replacement in sight. I predict a boom of new gas fired CCGT power plants being built, all powered by expensive imported LNG kicking off very soon. Even worse, we now do not have any UK companies who can build a power station. We have no serious boiler or turbine makers. They're either built by Alstom (French) or Siemens (German).

[doodab]

Even worse, we now do not have any UK companies who can build a power station. We have no serious boiler or turbine makers. They're either built by Alstom (French) or Siemens (German).

I don't think we have many that can make windmills either. We are a service economy, all we can contribute is marketing to persuade people to switch electricity providers.