Haven't read the whole thread but could be numerous reasonsdeadhead aggie said:
because too high of winds can damage the gears and generator in the nacelle…operators can feather the blades and lock the brakes to avoid the damage to the equipment…
very high winds doesn't equate to very high energy production…
All of this is correct, and at times they are also curtailed due to transmission constraints. (lines out, regional load differentials, etc)ktownag08 said:
The #1 reason wind turbines are offline when it's windy is called economic curtailment. All power plants in TX submit an offer curve to the market. A wind farm still within subsidy regime (mostly the Production Tax Credit aka PTC) is incentized to operate down to the negative value of said credit grossed up for taxes which equates to approx. negative $30 to keep the math easy. A facility out of subsidy regime (older than 10 years) is probably only offering around $0 as it wouldn't make sense for them or any power plant to produce when power prices are negative. Most wind farms don't choose the investment tax credit aka ITC which refunds a percentage of CAPEX for essentially existing so they want the production as subsidy is only granted when the produce.
Often when winds are high, demand is low causing the negative pricing and these economic curtailments. I can guarantee you absolutely no wind farm operator is toggling individual tubines on or off in response to market demand. It's all controlled automatically based of the facilities offer curve.
Other posters are correct that turbines are taken offline for planned and unplanned maintenance as well as shut down when winds are too high to operate, but most idle turbines you see on windy days are due to above.
Yes, I work in power gen industry...
The winds may have been above the limits.Tramp96 said:
Last Saturday I drove from Dallas to Lubbock on what was perhaps one of the windiest days of the year. For those who don't know, there are hundreds of wind generators along that route around the Seymour area.
I drove back to Dallas on Wednesday, which may have been even more windy than Saturday was.
On both days, when the winds were very high and steady, I would estimate at least half if not more of the wind generators I saw were not moving.
We often joke about wind energy being dependent on the wind, but I believe the sadder joke is that even when it is windy, they aren't generating any electricity.
Can somebody explain why 50% or more of the wind generators aren't operating on the windiest of days? I could understand a handful being offline for maintenance, but not over half.
I recall driving from Roswell to Bryan via Abilene during the summer of 2023. Car said the temp was well north of 100. So power demand should have been through the roof.CanyonAg77 said:
Demand.
Some might be down for maintenance, some might be down for high winds, but demand is 90% of the equation.
When it's 100 degrees in Dallas, and everyone has their home and office ACs set to 55 degrees, the demand is there, and the turbines are running.
When electric demand is low, they aren't.
jrdaustin said:
I do know that if wind gusts greater than some amount (I've read 50-55 mph), the turbines have an auto shutoff feature that will turn off the turbine. The higher speed can result in damage to the turbine itself.
birdman said:
Because they already hit their numbers. To earn the subsidy, the turbine has to produce a certain amount of electricity per month. After that plateau, they shut it down to lessen the wear and tear.
More importantly, for the tax deductions. Take away the tax deductions and the wind farms do not make any sense at all.riverrataggie said:Tramp96 said:
Last Saturday I drove from Dallas to Lubbock on what was perhaps one of the windiest days of the year. For those who don't know, there are hundreds of wind generators along that route around the Seymour area.
I drove back to Dallas on Wednesday, which may have been even more windy than Saturday was.
On both days, when the winds were very high and steady, I would estimate at least half if not more of the wind generators I saw were not moving.
We often joke about wind energy being dependent on the wind, but I believe the sadder joke is that even when it is windy, they aren't generating any electricity.
Can somebody explain why 50% or more of the wind generators aren't operating on the windiest of days? I could understand a handful being offline for maintenance, but not over half.
Bc the objective of wind farms isn't to help solve grid problems. Wind farms are stood up to launder money to those who passed the bills that gave the projects money.
Also, some turbines may not have been in working order. It's not unusual around here to see wind turbines at rest.jrdaustin said:
I do know that if wind gusts greater than some amount (I've read 50-55 mph), the turbines have an auto shutoff feature that will turn off the turbine. The higher speed can result in damage to the turbine itself.
The anemometer is located at the top of the turbine, so wind gusts are likely higher than they would be at ground level.
If half of the farm is down when it's normally running, that's my guess as to what happened.
I asked one farmer who has had wind turbines on his property for quite a while about whether they pay that well.Hagen95 said:
I know plenty of land owners in West Texas that are happy to put the turbines on their land. Easy money.
In one wind farm around here, I've been told that they went through three sets of rotor blades in a big hurry. I'm not positive, but I think that the second set was immediately after they certified the wind farm as ready.Artimus Gordon said:
Whole train load of rotor blades heading west on Hwy 36 just yesterday. Don't know if they were for new builds (probably) or replacements the dead birds tore up?
Have you by chance gone across the Port Aransas ferry lately? There are dozens - hundreds probably of blades lined up on the side of the road there. They bring them in by ship and load them on trains to ship out. I bet that's where your trainload came from.Artimus Gordon said:
Whole train load of rotor blades heading west on Hwy 36 just yesterday. Don't know if they were for new builds (probably) or replacements the dead birds tore up?
