Driving in the panhandle between Amarillo and Pampa and not a single wind turbine is spinning. Every single one is stationary. It is a beautiful day with 15 mile an hour winds why wouldn't they all be turning?

Driving through Fort Stockton last week, not one of them in that area were on as well, thought it was kind of odd. Maybe simply a supply and demand deal?

either maintenance or no demand.

Because they provide a small percentage of power to the grid, so when power use is low they can be turned off or on easily to fill the need.

ERCOT had them curtailed. Too much congestion in the transmission lines.

I don't think I've ever noticed the ones here (Gregory/Taft) not running, except for maintenance. Is this a frequent occurrence? Granted, I don't pay too terribly much attention to them.

Drove through Barnhart this morning and they were all turning with just a mild breeze at 9 am

STX Ag said:

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I don't think I've ever noticed the ones here (Gregory/Taft) not running, except for maintenance. Is this a frequent occurrence? Granted, I don't pay too terribly much attention to them.

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if weather is very mild across the state, real time power prices drop sharply. windmills are easy to shut down.

MOST modern wind turbines are designed to remain running even while curtailed. I know the site you are speaking of and those are relatively "new" so my bet would be on a planned substation or transmission line maintenance. Could also be unplanned substation issues (blown transformer, capacitors, insulators, etc.).If they are older turbines then the possibility of being "shut down" for low demand is absolutely plausible.

1) you can't really store excess electricity (on this scale, at this time)
2) turning off and restarting a gas/coal/nuclear powered generator is not a trival task.
3)Turing off and restarting a wind turbine is a relatively easy thing to do

Furlock Bones said:

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STX Ag said:

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I don't think I've ever noticed the ones here (Gregory/Taft) not running, except for maintenance. Is this a frequent occurrence? Granted, I don't pay too terribly much attention to them.

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if weather is very mild across the state, real time power prices drop sharply. windmills are easy to shut down.

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Yeah, I get that. I'm just saying, I don't remember seeing them not moving here, when there was enough wind to move them.

Could have something to do with petroleum being so cheap right now..

They're subsidized by the govt and are non-essential personal.

How much power does it take to turn off and keep off giant windmills?

As someone around these all the time, I can tell you they are usually running.

And if you are ever near Palo Duro Canyon, there's one west of it that is the largest in the US, over 400 feet tall. Belongs to our system school, WTAMU

May have been maintenance. The ones a little north of there were all running

You guys make me look smart (which can be hard to do). Met with a bunch of know it all engineers (I'm just the lowly Contactor) later in the day and they were all talking about the wind farms being shut down and wondering why. I let them throw out guesses and argue about it for a while before throwing out the answer. It got real quiet - that was fun

Capt. Augustus McCrae said:

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Could have something to do with petroleum being so cheap right now..

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Not really the same market.

So I responded before I refreshed the thread and see some debate on the answer..... Either way they bought the ERCOT explanation...

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And if you are ever near Palo Duro Canyon, there's one west of it that is the largest in the US, over 400 feet tall. Belongs to our system school, WTAMU

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I recently saw some plans for one that would be north of 650 feet tall with blade lengths longer than 200 feet. They say this could generate the equivalent of 10 to 12 of turbines that are currently being built.

Driving home from Del Rio this past weekend, we were all discussing the wind turbines there. Just how much electricity do one of those provide?

most of the ones around me make 1.5 megawatts each.

Duncan Idaho said:

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2) turning off and restarting a coal/nuclear powered generator is not a trival task.

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FIFY - cycling gas is trivial.

Natural gas power plants are cycled to even out the load changes caused by renewables.

Possibly prepping for high winds from the "arctic blast" this weekend.