The intent of this site is to present factual information related to the wind generation facility that is proposed in the Lake Michigan waters west of Mason and Oceana Counties. Please send error reports, suggestions, and additional questions and/or answers to dlr@eolas.com.
Unless otherwise noted, the answers have been generated by David Roseman (dlr@eolas.com). They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any other person or group.
(1) "...and the application shall be accompanied by the written consent of all persons having an interest in the lands or water areas applied for in the application."
(2) Before an application is acted upon by the department, the applicant shall secure approval of or permission for his or her proposed use of such lands or water area from any federal agency as provided by law, the department with the advice of the Michigan waterways commission, and the legislative body of the local unit or units of government within which such land or water area is or will be included, or to which it is contiguous or adjacent. A deed, lease, or agreement shall not be issued or entered into by the department without such approvals or permission.
(Emphasis added.)
This subject requires formal study. The following links may be helpful.
2007 Inland Consent Decree "... In 1979, the court ruled that the 1836 tribes still had a viable treaty right to fish in the Great Lakes, and specifically found that the Great Lakes waters could never be settled."
"Few articles have by themselves created a new legal doctrine. An example was Warren & Brandeis, The Right to Privacy, 4 Harv. L. Rev. 193 (1890). But almost the only other example that comes readily to mind is the public trust doctrine created by Joseph Sax in his celebrated article in the Michigan Law Review. If Sax is correct, much private land is held, and has always been held, subject to paramount rights of the state to see that it is used in the public interest. If Sax's critics are correct, the public trust doctrine is a large scale uncompensated confiscation of private rights. In this Symposium, we have collected some of the rich literature which the doctrine has inspired.
"Wind energy will be one of the most important, widely applied of the renewable energy forms during the next several decades. There are substantial challenges to be met, but all appear solvable. Successful research and development will potentially result in generation from wind energy of about 10% of the electricity used in the United States. A strong U.S. wind industry will be competitive to supply wind turbines to the rest of the world, along with the significant environmental and societal benefits of wind energy."
Danish Ofrfshore Wind: Key environmental issues. This report, cited in GLOW report References, page 50, discusses many issues. Among others, it discusses the colonization of mussels on underwater supports.
Ed Arnett "Seeking Solutions for Wind Energy" "This much is clear: Wind-energy facilities across North America are killing alarming numbers of bats. That is now well documented."
S. Baidya Roy,S. W. Pacala, R. L. Walko "Can large wind farms affect local meteorology?" "Results show that the wind farm significantly slows down the wind at the turbine hub-height level. Additionally, turbulence generated by rotors create eddies that can enhance vertical mixing of momentum, heat, and scalars, usually leading to a warming and drying of the surface air and reduced surface sensible heat flux."
“…there is compelling evidence that wind turbine noise can and does disturb sleep and impair the health of those living too close and that current guidance is inadequate protection.”
“In my expert opinion, from my knowledge of sleep physiology and a review of the available research, I have no doubt that wind turbine noise emissions have been clearly associated with sleep disturbances.”
Dr. Hanning has nearly 30 years experience in sleep and its disorders. His expertise in this field has been accepted by the civil, criminal and family courts. Further details about his credentials are cited in the paper.[1]
Accidents and maintenance
Lightning [suggested by Marty Rapp]
When lightning strikes wind turbines. "It's not a matter of "if" but of “when” a wind turbine will see overvoltages and currents that must get bypassed to ground."
"Lightning Hazard Reduction at Wind Farms" "At one southwestern USA Wind Farm lightning damage exceeded $50,000 in the first year of operation. Damage occurred to blades, generator, controller, control cables, SCADA, etc."
From Dan Filius:
"I have been reading a book entitled "Wind Farm Scam" and it mentions that large wind turbines have a platform on top allowing helicopter access by the maintenance staff. I hadn't thought that we would also have to put up with a helicopter(s) buzzing around the turbines. Having the Coast Guard Helicopter fly by really gets people's attention and so would this maintenance copter(s).
Rotor blades must be inspected once a year and reconditioned after 40,000 hours or 5 years. The gears, generator, and main bearings must also be replaced after 40,000 operating hours (5 years) regardless of their condition.
Since each 1.5 MW turbine contains 700 gallons of oil, I would think that larger turbines would contain more. Each substation for a wind farm also contains as much as 10,000 gallons of oil. If Scandia is proposing 100 wind turbines the amount of oil contained in the turbines would approach 100,000 gallons.
Although Mr Dirdal of Scandia said there would be no oil leaks, that seems highly unlikely.
The information about 40,000 hours of operating time is what is done in England. However, the developers in England still claim that the life span of a turbine is 25 years even though they are required to replace the major parts every 5 yrs. (40,000 hr) An interesting quote by US physicist Howard Hayden : "The little country Denmark has made a name in recent years with their wind turbines. No they don't produce much electricity, they sell them to suckers." According to the book I am reading, Denmark has stopped all wind installations onshore and offshore because of the unreliable electrical production with wind energy. Harald Dirdal denied this at the Ludington meeting but he apparently wasn't being truthful."
"Through my conversations, I came to learn that turbines break down more often than technicians can keep up with the maintenance-at-large. With this crucial maintenance information, I hope people can make reasonable decisions about the practical application of wind turbines in Nantucket Sound."
Sinking windfarms
[1] "Hundreds of Britain's offshore wind turbines could be sinking into the sea because of a design flaw.
It is believed the concrete used to fix some turbines to their steel foundation can wear away, causing the power generators to drop a few inches.
[2] "The problem could cost £50 million, said Renewables UK, the industry body that represents wind farm developers. It says that almost all of the 336 offshore turbines that have been erected could be affected as these were built to European standards now in question."
Cleaning issues (thanks, Dennis Houk) Does this introduce chemicals into the Lake?
[From the GLOW report, page 80] "The findings suggest that public acceptance in Michigan—and even in different parts of the state—may differ substantially from that in other areas. Without additional research, it is difficult to know how specific communities and the general public in Michigan will respond to offshore wind proposals and what factors will influence public opinion, including the types and sources of information. Michigan should expect a range of positions in response to proposed developments and will benefit from a proactive and transparent process that considers all interests from the planning stages to implementation."
The dateTime is based on XML Schema time (see XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition). The value can be expressed as yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:sszzzzzz, where T is the separator between the date and the time, and the time zone is either Z (for UTC) or zzzzzz, which represents ±hh:mm in relation to UTC. Additionally, the value can be expressed as a date only. See the element in the KML 2.2 Reference for examples.
Assigning names. It appears that right-clicking on an object, and choosing Entity info allows assigning a name, which can be accessed through the Ruby API.
A Ruby console is available in Sketchup under Window > Ruby Console
Charlie Parcells is a Huron County resident who is passionate about wind turbines, and makes great use of Google Earth. Here is a view of the Scandia project at sunset from Silver Lake.
Click for a larger image
Click here to see wind generators in some unexpected places.
How does one do an image rendering that accurately portrays the wind turbines? How do I create an image that would show the turbine size exactly as if I took a photo through a normal lens, and enlarged the negative to the same size as the image I created?
From Delaware site: "How much maintenance do wind turbines require?
Modern wind turbines require very little maintenance, typically less than 48 hours of maintenance per year. It's important to note that a wind park is essentially numerous individual power plants; when one or two turbines are down for maintenance, the rest continue to generate electricity. That's different from a fossil fuel powered plant, when the entire facility is taken offline - often for many weeks - during maintenance or equipment failure. All of the turbines are monitored continuously, assuring that any downtime for the turbines is minimized."
"What is the relationship between an offshore wind park and property values along Delaware's coast?
Delaware's wind park will be more than eleven nautical miles off the Delaware coast. A government study released in 2003 tracked more than 25,000 real estate transactions around the largest onshore wind parks in the U.S. and found no adverse effects of wind parks on nearby real estate prices. This study considered projects where the turbines were much more visible than would be the case for Delaware's offshore wind park. At over eleven miles offshore, the wind turbines will generally not be visible on the typical hazy conditions during the summer. Bluewater is proud to have selected sites far offshore that avoid concerns related to the view of the wind park."
The power plant consists of six reversible turbines that can each generate 312 megawatts of electricity for a total output of 1872 megawatts.
Electrical generation can begin within 2 minutes with peak electric output of 1.8 million kilowatts achieved in under 30 minutes. Maximum water flow is over 33 million gallons per minute.
LI>Official site
Norman Dodds notes: "A Class I site has the lowest wind and a Class 7 site has the best wind. It appears that the wind offshore Ludington is rated 3, then 4 and then 5 as you go further offshore. So much for the developer's claim that the site is the "best in the country". As you'll see there are Class 6 and 7 sites all over the United States, just not in Michigan."
Editorials
Chicago Tribune 1-8-2010 "As a former chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, I am astonished at the commission's decision Dec. 28 to allow the state agency that buys electricity on behalf of utility customers to sign long-term supply contracts from wind farms at rates far more expensive than prevailing market rates. ..."
Windaction.org
"Noteworthy
It would take thousands of these clean-energy, landscape-marring machines [wind turbines] to generate only a slice of the region's power needs. Consider a recent Department of Energy Study. It shows that nationwide, moving to 10 percent renewable energy would still see coal burning increase substantially because of rapidly growing electrical demand.
- Tom Horton, staff environmental writer of the weekly column 'On the Bay', The Baltimore Sun: "Wind farms a problem, too," 2/27/04
