Blowing Hard

I got into a conversation regarding wind power I'd like to share. Since I had listened to Alex Epstein's great Power Hour Interview with Robert Bryce I was a bit more informed then my left leaning friend on energy issues. He did manage to stump me at one point so here is how the conversation went.

First, I brought up the fact that "When power demand is highest, wind energy’s output is generally low. The reverse is also true: Wind-energy production is usually highest during the middle of the night, when electricity use is lowest." (NRO) . The "intermittency and extreme variability of wind energy" means that you have to build as much conventional (coal, natural gas, nuclear, etc.) capacity wherever you build wind turbines.

Next I pointed out that wind has a very low power density. To understand what this means imagine filling a pool with a garden hose. When I turn the water on it will take a really long time to fill. Now imagine I do the same thing and fill the pool with a fire hose. This time the pool fills very quickly. In both cases the amount of water (ie. energy) is the same, but when I used the firehouse I put the water in much faster. That is what power is -- how fast I can produce (or consume) energy in a given amount of time. It is measured in kilowatt-hours. Solar, notorious for low power density kicks wind's ass. Wind is especially poor when you consider the amount of resources (steel and concrete for example) that it takes per kilowatt hour.

I did get asked a question though that stumped me initially. My friend asked me, why if wind is so poor is Denmark in the process of switching almost entierly to wind? Well the answer can be found in Chapter 10 of Bryson's book "Power Hungry":

1. Denmark has the most expensive electricity in the modern world due to exorbitant taxes
2. 2/3 of the wind power generated is exported to neighboring countries below cost (wind blows a lot when you don't need it)
3. Hydroelectric power is purchased at peak demand rates ($expensive$) to meet high demand (wind doesn't blow when you need it)

If the goal is using the least amount of resources to generate ever greater energy at increasing rates, then the free market is the best way to determine this. We see it now, where the market isn't distorted by government, from natural gas power generation. I'd encourage folks to pick up Bryson's book for some great facts. The only criticism I would have to say up front is that he talks a lot about reducing dependence on foreign oil and on lowering carbon emissions. Some of that is accepting bad premises that these things are bad or can be solved by government intervention into economics. If you can look past those side discussions there is a lot you can take away.