Anyone bitching about offshore wind from a visual point of view needs to go stand on the beaches of Galveston. Oil fucks up the view a lot (and transit through the Gulf).
Anyone bitching about offshore wind from a visual point of view needs to go stand on the beaches of Galveston. Oil fucks up the view a lot (and transit through the Gulf).That's great where Solar/Wind excess daytime power can be scavenged. New England isn't ideal for solar (unless material scientist manage a big jump in affordable efficiency). We are starting to collect offshore wind - but that faces allot of problems as wind tower/blades grow in size for economic reasons (NIMBY - those towers wreck our ocean view, even when they are 5mi offshore ).
Wow, that’s pretty impressive!This article just popped up on my the CF forum site I lurk at. Always a section about green energy tech.
BYD to power world’s largest energy storage system in Chile · TechNode
The deal is the latest in BYD’s efforts to scale up its energy storage business and lead in areas beyond electric vehicles.technode.com
I'm still lamenting the utterly obscene heat of 2023 while dreading summer 2024 and wondering if it could be worse. You wouldn't think so but summer 2022 was the hottest one ever recorded in San Antonio and I thought I might have been off the hook for a while and then summer 2023 turned out way way hotter than summer 2022 and pretty much crushed every record in the book for San Antonio summers.Ah, it feels like only a few short months ago you were lamenting the utterly obscene heat there... 🤪
For many of these mega power line projects, NIMBYs have nothing to do with the delays as FERC drives the bus and FERC doesn’t give a solitary f’ about the neighbors. The companies start with a half assed proposal to attract investors and then tweak and re-tweak it to make it buildable. Every time they tweak the design, the permitting agencies have to review the changes. Most of the dead time is waiting for the project proponents to get their poops in a bundle.Yes, and yes. But more than just "spending money", America needs to get NIMBY's under control. This is one of the cases where I see eminent domain as not just beneficial for the country, but vitally necessary.
You can't spend money on new infrastructure in the U.S. no matter how hard you try - all of the money just goes to lobbyists and politicians for years for the mere hope of eventually getting through the red tape.
It's taken over a decade just to get key state permits to go ahead with one such 5 Gigawatt interstate transmission line.
Original siting permit in Kansas was approved way back in 2013 with limited review required, but Missouri took a full decade to allow it to go forward. But it looks like the Grain Belt Express finally going to get started over next few years after Missouri finally gave in on allowing state level permission. This will ultimately effectively allow interconnection of large scale mid-west wind to the East Coast grid:
Grain Belt Express transmission line wins final approval in Missouri • Missouri Independent
The Missouri Public Service Commission granted approval for the Grain Belt Express to drop off thousands of megawatts of renewable energy.missouriindependent.com
Just make sure you’re wearing a dark swimsuit in case you get tar on itAnyone bitching about offshore wind from a visual point of view needs to go stand on the beaches of Galveston. Oil fucks up the view a lot (and transit through the Gulf).
They probably just need to be punched in the mouth, so they have something to actually complain about if that's the worst thing happening in their life.Anyone bitching about offshore wind from a visual point of view needs to go stand on the beaches of Galveston. Oil fucks up the view a lot (and transit through the Gulf).
I have no idea what it looks like in Galveston. I do know that the wind turbines off the coast that I've seen are kind of pretty little white trees off in the distance. It's only obvious that they are wind turbines with binoculars.Anyone bitching about offshore wind from a visual point of view needs to go stand on the beaches of Galveston. Oil fucks up the view a lot (and transit through the Gulf).
More than likely the worse part are the 100 blinking red lights at night. I wish the FAA would come up with a new regulation that allowed for perimeter marking instead of each tower having their own light. It's distracting driving at night through Oklahoma or Kansas and you can see 1,000 red light blinking every couple of seconds at night.I have no idea what it looks like in Galveston. I do know that the wind turbines off the coast that I've seen are kind of pretty little white trees off in the distance. It's only obvious that they are wind turbines with binoculars.
It's also environmentalist. Odd collection of those in opposition. Owners of $100M mansions on the Vineyard and environmentalists. The concerns about damage to the sea floor are real, but all power plant systems affect their local habitat. Also, the Turbines off of Martha's Vineyard are actually 15 miles offshore!!The NIMBY's complaining about wind collection may very well not have much to complain about in a couple decades as it's plausible their ocean view villa may not be around that long.
Environmental concerns should be taken into account for placement, but they shouldn't be used as a blanket ban or just a NIMBY way of slowing everything down. But we should avoid putting directly in migratory routes if at all possible or on top of coral reefs (not like we have any of those left).It's also environmentalist. Odd collection of those in opposition. Owners of $100M mansions on the Vineyard and environmentalists. The concerns about damage to the sea floor are real, but all power plant systems affect their local habitat. Also, the Turbines off of Martha's Vineyard are actually 15 miles offshore!!
I get aggravated because getting to a carbon neutral position in the world is going to take two generations given our stubborn reliance on fossil fuels for almost every aspect of our economies. Those 50 extra years are going to do more damage to various habitats than any Wind or Solar power generation system.
Yeah, I wasn't trying to say void all environmental concern. We just need to expedite development. The Vineyard Wind Project (phase 1) took twenty+ years to develop. That kind of time and money are not helping us make the green transition. Somehow we need to get that time down to something like 5-7 years. We need a very serious look a the processes that go into the proposal, development and installation to bring up an operational plant. I think this will required educating government oversight agencies and private developers as well. Developers are in a rush to sell their ideas to investors and likely do due diligence in the first place.Environmental concerns should be taken into account for placement, but they shouldn't be used as a blanket ban or just a NIMBY way of slowing everything down. But we should avoid putting directly in migratory routes if at all possible or on top of coral reefs (not like we have any of those left).
Funny, how the old Dutch windmills have visual value.I have no idea what it looks like in Galveston. I do know that the wind turbines off the coast that I've seen are kind of pretty little white trees off in the distance. It's only obvious that they are wind turbines with binoculars.
Yes, a bit short on power output compared to the 5MW units being built today .Funny, how the old Dutch windmills have visual value.
The new ones will too eventually, people like what they are used to. People hated the Eiffel Tower at first too.Funny, how the old Dutch windmills have visual value.
Too bad it's not the Dakota's their would be gas flare offs instead.More than likely the worse part are the 100 blinking red lights at night. I wish the FAA would come up with a new regulation that allowed for perimeter marking instead of each tower having their own light. It's distracting driving at night through Oklahoma or Kansas and you can see 1,000 red light blinking every couple of seconds at night.
Cool, the atmosphere is mainlining CO2! Oh wait!Too bad it's not the Dakota's their would be gas flare offs instead.
this is a good article explaining the issue of trying to add clean energy projects to the grid. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/06/out...ns-of-clean-energy-stuck-waiting-in-line.htmlYeah
Yeah, I wasn't trying to say void all environmental concern. We just need to expedite development. The Vineyard Wind Project (phase 1) took twenty+ years to develop. That kind of time and money are not helping us make the green transition. Somehow we need to get that time down to something like 5-7 years. We need a very serious look a the processes that go into the proposal, development and installation to bring up an operational plant. I think this will required educating government oversight agencies and private developers as well. Developers are in a rush to sell their ideas to investors and likely do due diligence in the first place.
It’s darkly funny that Texas purposefully made their own grid in order to be independent or whatever and then when it turned out to be a piece of shit found a way to blame everyone but themselves.Sooner or later Texas is going to receive a major hurricane and a major heat wave in rapid succession and it is not going to be great.
Maybe someday they'll see the light.It’s darkly funny that Texas purposefully made their own grid in order to be independent or whatever and then when it turned out to be a piece of shit found a way to blame everyone but themselves.
I'm with you on that! I love the look of wind turbines against a blue sky. Reminds me of sea birds for some reason.Never understood people who don't like windmills. They look cool as hell! Plus every time you see one you can get a nice feeling knowing that's a bit less fucking coal that needs to be burned.