Bernard's Comments

Unfortunately you seem to have been misinformed about the use of wind turbines in Antarctica. Several nations use this technology to power their research stations either totally or as a significant contributor to their station load. The US program has been operating Northern Power Systems 3kw (4 off) at a remote station near McMurdo since 1993 and with a 12kW solar array, this site operates entirely from renewable resources. Australia has been operating a 10kW Vergnet turbine at Casey station since 1996 where the wind speeds have been recorded in excess of 90 m/s. Since 2003 we have also been operating 2 x 300kW Enercon wind turbines at Mawson station where the annual average wind speeds at 10m is 12 m/s. This system is able to provide the entire station load of 500-600kW (heat and power) but as with all these systems, diesel is required as a back-up for when the winds drop. Continued next comment.

Australia is currently running a demonstration project at Mawson which is producing and storing hydrogen (from wind and water) for use in IC engines and fuel cells when the wind drops and the turbines are unable to keep up with the load requirements. When fully implemented, this will allow a true year-round operation of an Antarctic research station, fossil-fuel free. Our web site www.aad.gov.au gives details of these system but papers have been presented at international Antarctic conferences (eg SCALOP and COMNAP) so I am surprised that the Belgian Antarctic people were not aware of these existing systems.