World's Largest Wind Project is Underway

How are we going to keep up with our maintenance issues on such large projects if only 2500 technicians exist now in the US with AAS degrees in
wind power maintenance? Would it be better to extract more power from "free standing CSP" than from highly complex wind power?

Companies produce close to the same power density per unit of land, and (10) technians can maintain a 100 acre field, with multi-megawatt capability, not to mention the non-issues of overhead infrastructure.

Solar power should begin to become standard items for homes built in every state; utilizing hot water installs first (most efficient), and then considering PV for voltage later. 58-60% of a homes energy generation is used to produce hot water!

All the Best,....

It's interesting to look at the simulation of the project site at the bottom of the linked page http://altawindenergycenter.com/awec.html

"Hey, Mom, look at the size of those turbines, the towers look barely 10 times the height of a tumbleweed, yet 300 of them make 1550 MW. Those 5 MW turbines sure must be tiny. I can hardly see how they could be of any concern."

No further comment. The picture says it all ... or does it?

Nice link to the fraudulent photo. None of the numbers here make sense. I don't know where they get 1550 MW, perhaps by combining this new "up to 800 MW" project with existing projects they already manage.

If they broke ground, that means they have a supplier for the turbines. How about telling us next time?

Wow, that is truly a bad picture. Those tiny turbines are nowhere the size they would need to be be a 5MW turbine. Not to mention there really is no land based 5MW turbines on the market. (1550 / 300 = 5.16) Something stinks here.

This article lacks facts and any real insight into the industry as a whole.

It is great that there will be 3,000 jobs created. And per the article 20% increase in California!! Currently California has 2,739 MW of wind (according to the latest AWEA report). 1,550 MW of new wind divided by 2,739 MW of existing wind is over a 50% increase but only 20% more jobs? Yes, I know the 2,729 MW of existing generation consists of many more turbines (due to the smaller sizes) and because of age also requires more maintenance so I can give some credibility to that figure, however, other than construction and maintenance jobs how many of the manufacturing jobs will be in California? Very little, if any. Do Californians know that their electric bill includes an additional amount in their rates to pay for the mandated renewable electricity? California is in a financial crisis and while Californians pay higher electric rates the State doesn't get the additional tax monies that could be obtained from personal income tax and corporate tax if some of the manufacturing were performed within the State. This additional tax money would surely help the States condition and make Californians feel that even though their electric rates are higher due to the mandated renewables, the State will get some additional benefit from the additional taxes.

It looks like they are adding 320 new 2.5 MW GE turbines to an existing site for 800 MW of additional peak generating capacity. This is a pretty poorly written article and the web site isn't much better.
Steven

Annonymous writes, "Do Californians know that their electric bill includes an additional amount in their rates to pay for the mandated renewable electricity?"

Well, I live in Alabama, and we've had significant rate hikes in the past ten years on our electricity -- and it has nothing to do with any mandate to get it from renewables. It is simply the desire of that "natural" monopoly, Southern Company, to get more money from all of us, all the while teaming with the Salvation Army to solicit funds for po' folks (added to one's bill), since the multi-billion dollar corporation can't be reasonable in its demands for rate hikes (but can buy, among other things, half of England's power supply infrastructure in the 1980's).

Back in the nineties there was an incident on my land where, during a thunderstorm, one of the power lines fell onto another one and shorted out, destroying my pool pump. When my pool guy looked at the wires, he noticed that the insulation was all worn out on the two wires, and suggested that maybe I could get a refund from Alabama Power if I called them. When I did, they informed me that what he noticed missing wasn't "insulation," but "weather proofing." Being naive then, I told the pool guy, straight faced, thinking it would explain it. He was (to me) inexplicably silent for a rather long time (this was one the phone), then burst out laughing hysterically for an uncomfortable period of time, before finally saying, "I've never heard THAT one before!" And then managed to gasp out between laughs, "weather-proofing!" before another laughing paroxym overtook him.

Evidently, the multi-billion dollar "natural" monopoly couldn't afford to keep its lines "weather-proofed" (or "insulated" if you prefer!).

Re post #1 - Rush2112 "58-60% of a homes energy generation is used to produce hot water!" This figure is maybe 25% on the high side, probably lower on average. Please try to keep our posted information here at least somewhat accurate.

Cannot believe a company like Alta could not get its photomontages right - if a company like this cannot get it right it starts to make the whole industry look a joke.
I implore Alta to sort it self out fast if it wants to be taken seriously.