Amazon cloud increasingly powered by hot air

Subsidy?

Does the US have any kind of subsidy for electricity generation from 'renewables', where you get paid more than the standard price when you feed your generated electricity into the grid? I'm wondering what the capital repayment period is for a project like that and the ongoing ROI.

The Wind keeps the Clouds moving

Nothing new here then.

Quick sum...

The 150 megawatt facility on Fowler Ridge in Benton County, Indiana starting pumping out electrons on the first of January when it made over “1.1 million kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity.”

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=150MW*24h&meta=&safe=active&gws_rd=ssl#safe=active&hl=en&q=150MW*24+hours+in+kwh

3.6 million kWh

So it's running at <30% nominal load, which seems about typical.

Why don't they just call it a 50MW facility?

EIT: Actually seems to be quite high!

The normalised load factor for UK onshore wind farms declines from a peak of about 24% at

age 1 to 15% at age 10 and 11% at age 15. The decline in the normalised load factor for Danish

onshore wind farms is slower but still significant with a fall from a peak of 22% to 18% at age 15.

On the other hand for offshore wind farms in Denmark the normalised load factor falls from

39% at age 0 to 15% at age 10.

From http://www.ref.org.uk/attachments/article/280/ref.hughes.19.12.12.pdf

Of course not having to deal with the humidty and sea air of northernm europe probably helps.

Maybe it should be called a 20%150MW farm?

Indiana windmill farms

I remember the first time I rode through that area on I-65 back in 2010. Hadn't been through there in about 4 years and I don't think there were windmills in 2006. The massive size and scope of that windmill farm is mind-boggling. Two-hundred-foot tall windmills as far as the eye can see. It's quite surreal.

"That juice feeds into the local grid, which in turn nourishes AWS bit barns in Virginia"

That juice feeds into the local grid when it is windy.

When it isn't windy the AWS bit barns in Virginia use the grid as an enormous and expensive battery which someone else pays for.

I dont know the exact loss rate of lines running from Indiana to Virginia, but I would bet if thats where the power was really going you would be losing over 50%...the real answer is its fed into the grid, and they are offset for what the farm they own generates.