That’s the percentage of days that the Hydro project will not be producing any electric.
This information comes straight from the VLF website.
The operating head for this turbine design is between 1.4 and 2.8 meters of head.
Seeing that the Corp of Engineers measures river levels in feet, this translates into 4’7.1” and 9’2.2”
Did some quick number crunching from the COE Rock Island web site on river levels. Take the pool level at L&D 21 and subtract the tailwater at L&D 21 and you get the “head”.
In the last 12 years the level that falls below the minimum operating head pressure design of these turbines would amount to them not operating 39.79% of the time. The worst years would be 1998 of not operating for 177 days ( 48.5% )and the best would be 2006 when they would only be down 55 days ( 15%).
If you want to look at the sheet I have done, let me know and I will paste it up.
Oh....and if this doesn't pass, there's a excellent chance that the city will save 6.6 million dollars.
That's better than the turbine company coming to town........
.
8 comments:
So, what is the percentage of time that a wind turbine doesn't generate electricity? I imagine less than this number. Did you bring this up in the forum?
Dollar for dollar it seems to me the city would be doing better to put up a small wind farm. After all, part of these turbines are already produced in this area. Granted it is not as exciting to support area jobs as it is to job it out to France or Canada.
ANON 1:40
Can’t tell you the wind efficiency because I haven’t studied it that much. But unlike the photo I took in this post that has a “head” of ZERO on the might Mississippi, the wind is blowing as I write this.
Find it quite odd that the Adams Coop rep can stand up if front of council and give their support to this project while building a wind turbine at the same time. Didn’t see him reach behind him and whip out a check did ya?
Truthfully, I was out of town for the first forum, but after watching the rerun, I’m glad I was not there. I’m not a very good public speaker and if you-know-who would have rushed me into getting to my question, Duesy would have been in cardiac arrest for the reply I would have gave him. Spring doesn’t want any negative feedback on the project and it was very apparent in the way he treated the questioners. Very strange how not one Dem asked a question. King Spring has his boys whipped into form and the votes in his pocket for this project. I would bet my monthly bar tab that this will vote will come down party lines with Springer casting the deciding vote.
I would have seriously went to the second one if not watching the first one. It is blatantly clear that the Mayor is the lead cheerleader on this and is going to ram it down the councils throat come hell or high water, which by the way, doesn’t produce electricity….
Thanks for stopping by..
I got the impression that these don't produce in flood times either.
That would increase your 37.79% figure.
Tspud1
You are correct on the flooding.
The 37% is factored into the totals. Took the entire years river levels and did the numbers. Most of the days are during flooding periods and in large blocks.
Thanks for stopping by.
Consumers and businesses may finally be seeing some relief from rising utility bills, thanks to the biggest decline in U.S. electricity demand in decades.
This ought to pay off that 6.6 million in no time!
Did Pete Pohlman see this coming?
"We know the technology will work," Duesterhaus said.
Mayor Spring said it would...
Yes, electricity is at an all-time low in demand, but I foresee $4 gas and electricity rates going back up the moment any definite recovery is seen. With the hundreds of people looking for work and relatively low energy/building costs right now, I can't think of a better time to start progress.
Hydro is considered as adding to base power production. It produces mainly in the summer when electricity demand is highest. This beats the heck out of wind/hydro which only work when the sun shines and the wind blows. One cloud puts solar out of business -- and almost every morning I get up there's no wind (early morning and mid-to-late afternoon are the two peak power usage times).
And I've analyzed the numbers a lot. This project stands a good chance of providing a considerable amount of revenue to the city (around half the budget in the last 30 years or so). The only risk is to the city's bond rating if hydro revenues can't keep up with the bond payments. That risk is about 10-13 years out. Past that point it's gravy.
Partnering with somebody would be stupid as the only thing you'd do is share the risk (and ANY inability to pay revenue bonds would hurt -- so minimizing that risk by sharing doesn't make a lot of sense).
Post a Comment