Windy Weather Boosts Spain's Windpower Output to 40.8% Of Total Usage

[hatrack]

Wind power is breaking new records in Spain, accounting for just over 40 percent of all electricity consumed during a brief period last weekend. As heavy winds lashed Spain on Saturday evening wind parks generated 9,862 megawatts of power which translated to 40.8 percent of total consumption. Between Friday and Sunday wind power accounted for an average of 28 percent of all electricity demand in Spain. Spain’s wind power generation equaled that of hydropower for the first time in 2007.

In July the government approved legislation that will allow offshore wind parks to be set up along the nation’s vast coastline in an effort to boost the use of renewable energy sources. While more expensive than land-based wind farms, offshore wind parks can take advantage of stronger, steadier coastal breezes

EDIT

http://www.metaefficient.com/news/new-record-wind-powers-40-of-spain.html

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Awesome! nt

[NNadir]

2. On the other hand, last week wind produced zero percent of Spain's electricity.

These events never get reported.

In 2005 Spain set an all time record for carbon dioxide emissions, 387 million metric tons.

Happily, the deforestation under way on the Iberian Peninsula owing to the Sahara desert jumping the Straits of Gibralta will make lots of space available for solar and wind parks.

That's what deserts are for, "world's largest" solar plants. I heard it here.

[jpak]

3. Really??? gotta link for that nonsense???

or is it something you just made up...

I vote "made up"

[NNadir]

4. Yeah. In fundie land the wind blows all the time. Jesus blows it.

There is NOT ONE fundie anti-nuke who will ever report what the capacity utilization of wind power is.

On a planetary scale, capacity utilization for wind is less than 25%.

I note that Spain sent Columbus to America using wind power. VICTORY!!!!! TREMENDULOUSIC!!!!! OUTSTANDINGISTICALLY OPTIMIMATIONALLY FUNCTIONITELY STUPENDOUSCRACIOUSNESS!

This proves, of course, that wind power is a good idea.

Wind powered 100% of Spanish shipping in the 16th century.

The Spanish dependency called Holland was 100% powered by wind in the 16th century too.

It was such a good idea that the world, on discovering coal, immediately discounted the idea of using it.

I note, with contempt, that Spanish carbon dioxide consumption per capita hit an all time high in 2005, this during the "wind power revolution."

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tableh1cco2.xls

It's really, really, really comforting to look at the per capita dumping of the dangerous fossil fuel waste in anti-nuke countries like, say, Ireland, Spain, Norway, etc.

Heckuva job, anti-nukes, heckuva job.

A few more renewable energy paradises like Spain in Europe and the limits of the Sahara should reach Hamburg well before the 2050 "30% renewable" time line always advertised by dumb ass anti-nuke fundies.

Basically the anti-nuke industry - populated by big money Greenwashers and liars and intellectually lightweight mystics alike - is famous for selective attention.

How's the big scale up of the hydrogen wind plants at Utsira going by the way? Reportedly funding was available to Spring of 2008, which is now.

Any plans in the anti-nuke community to report on the first brazillion exajoules of wind-to-hydrogen in Norway?

On November 4, 2006, wind power instability caused the German UTCE grid to collapse, leaving 15 million people without power.

http://www.abb.com/cawp/db0003db002698/55622466a2d2c488c12572c700568a95.aspx

Just recently here, a fundie anti-nuke - displaying characteristic ignorance of energy and energy distribution systems - blamed a switching error in Florida on the Turkey Point nuclear station. In fact, the dumb fundie representation notwithstanding, the grid failure had nothing to do with the nuclear plant.

By contrast, the nature of wind power did cause a grid failure in Europe.

The same dumb ass fundie - a fundie is someone who will not change his or her opinion in the face of any amount of scientific, economic or other information - didn't report on this event where renewable energy actually caused the collapse of power systems.

On November 4, 2006, wind energy related system instability caused every power system on the UTCE grid to collapse, even though wind energy is a trivial form of energy.

In fact, wind power seldom reduces the need for spinning reserve. It is intrinsically unreliable.

[jpak]

5. As I suspected "made up"

and nuclear power "blows" all the time...

:evilgrin:

[DCKit]

7. You meanie. We're doomed without Nnew-cue-lur.

Everything else is too expensive, too unreliable, impossible to implement on any scale and, from what I've heard, environmentally catastrophic - despite the tidal wave evidence to the contrary.

With unlimited Nnew-cue-lur energy, we could implement the hydrogen economy (once they get the cost of a fuel-cell stack under $100K) and become a Nnet energy exporter to Mexico, our Nnational industrial district. The waste heat alone, once we figure out how to magically transport it, could be used to heat Canada so they could grow our food. Nno more tasteless winter tomatoes from Florida! We could get tasteless tomatoes from Canuckistan, year-round!

I just don't see a downside. Oh, wait... Damn.

On a brighter note, Nnew-cue-lur isn't possible without huge gubmint incentives, subsidies, guarantees and tax breaks to cover it's true costs. Despite the DU Nnew-cue-lur lobby of one, it just ain't gonna happen. Besides, the threads about alternative energy would be pedestrian without the Nnaysayer and it's good to have a direct source for the Nnew-cue-lur lobby's talking points, however insane they may sound to anyone who doesn't think of cesium or thorium as essential elements of a healthy diet.

[jpak]

8. Yes, and I spent all weekend calculating the neutron flux behavior of cesium iodide

on an Excel spreadsheet!!!!!1111

Why???

Because I can...

:rofl:

[jpak]

9. "On November 4, 2006, wind power instability caused the German UTCE grid to collapse"

WRONG

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2226678,00.html

<snip>

E.ON shut down power line for ship

"I am grateful that the situation was not worse than it turned out because E.ON caused it," Klaus-Dieter Maubach, a senior executive of the German utility company, told German public broadcaster ZDF. "The trigger of the breakdown in supply was that we had to take a line out of operation and that the knock-on effect from that loss spread to other lines which later cut out."

Maubach added that the power-down of a 380,000-volt E.ON line in north-west Germany so that a new ship could pass safely below it had been the first event in the crisis.

E.ON idled the power line so that the new vessel, the Norwegian Pearl, could be tugged from a German dockyard to the open sea. The power grid went haywire and 30 minutes later, lights went out in parts of Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Italy and flickered in much of western Europe during the incident. Power was restored in most places within an hour.

Maubach denied that the German power network, which Germans have boasted to be immune to US-style mass blackouts, was faulty.

"The networks are in a very good condition and we're investing in them all the time," he said.

<snip>

more "made up" stuff...

[Dogmudgeon]

6. " ... during a brief period last weekend"

How brief?

The headline led me to think: "Wow, 40% during 2007! ¡Ay Caramba, Man!"

You guys better pray that the WNA doesn't start using that tactic.

--p!

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. "How Brief?"

Probably a matter of moments.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jb_CljIaxmm-5LbeW4Hb0taAY8VA

...

Between Friday and Sunday wind power accounted for an average of 28 percent of all electricity demand in Spain, which is a leading world producer of such energy, a statement from the association said.

The record for power generated by Spain's wind parks was set on March 4 at 10,032 megawatts, but as it was a regular working day this accounted for less percentage demand.

Spain's wind power generation equalled that of hydropower for the first time in 2007.

...

While more expensive than land-based wind farms, offshore wind parks can take advantage of stronger, steadier coastal breezes.

...

http://www.aeeolica.org/index.php

La energía eólica alcanza un 40 por ciento de cobertura de la demanda eléctrica

El temporal y el bajo consumo propician un índice medio del 28% de cobertura durante los tres últimos días de Semana Santa

Gráficos de la demanda y generación eólica del sábado 22 de marzo. Fuente REE.

La generación eólica alcanzó el sábado 22 de marzo en torno a las 18h00 un nuevo récord de cobertura de la demanda al suponer en ese momento el 40,8 por ciento con 9.862 MW en funcionamiento. El temporal de viento que se registró en la península a lo largo de la Semana Santa ha propiciado, al coincidir con días festivos de menor consumo, que la producción eólica haya alcanzado durante ese periodo unos índices máximos de cobertura de la demanda de electricidad peninsular que además de la punta del 40,8% han oscilado la mayor parte del fin de semana entre el 20 % y el 35 %. En el período transcurrido desde el viernes 21 de marzo al domingo 23, la cobertura promedio de esta misma demanda ha sido del 28%, lo cual supone un hito en la diversificación del abastecimiento eléctrico de nuestro país y desde luego un escenario difícil de encontrar en otros países, excluidos los casos de Dinamarca y Portugal.

Esta situación se produce además en un contexto de operación centralizada del Sistema por parte de REE a través del CECRE lo que permite llegar a los elevados valores de cobertura, con un alto nivel de fiabilidad de la operación del Sistema Eléctrico Peninsular.

El máximo histórico de producción eólica se alcanzó el pasado 4 de marzo con 10.032 MW a las 15h53, lo que representó el 28 % de la demanda eléctrica peninsular de ese momento. También se registró ese día el máximo de producción eólica horaria con 9.803 MWh entre las 15h00 y las 16h00.

Babelfish translation to English:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=es_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aeeolica.org%2Findex.php