Environmental Stakeholder Roundtable

Dear Dr. Thorndike,

Thank you for your prompt answer to my letter. I was traveling in New England over the weekend and wanted to review the report you referenced from the National Academy of Sciences. In my review of the details of the report, it appears to agree with my own analyses and that of other analysts with whom I have been in contact over the past few years. Therefore, if the National Academy of Sciences supports wind power, that is obviously a political decision not supported by the analyses contained within its own report. I agree with you that wind energy is being promoted as the principal source of renewable energy by many governmental and quasi-scientific/environmental organizations. What is missing is the understanding that wind energy cannot replace base-load generators using fossil fuels, hydro, or nuclear energy.

Any detailed analysis of the performance of wind turbine generators, including my own work and any other analyses I have found leads to the following conclusions:

1. Wind turbines produce relatively small amounts of energy for their rated capacity and the electrical energy produced is highly variable and unpredictable. Another energy source must be kept in spinning reserve to make up for the inherent variability of wind. (Wind turbines effectively magnify the variability of wind speeds as the energy produced varies with the cube of wind velocity.)

2. The wind turbine will not, due to its variability, replace any conventional sources of power, whether hydro, nuclear, coal, gas or other fuels. The true cost of wind generated electricity must include its own high costs, including federal and state tax credits and subsidies, distribution costs, as well as local tax breaks. To this cost must then be added the cost of the necessary spinning reserve power, so that the true cost of wind power is effectively more than double that of any other common power source. (Wind developers sidestep this issue by the use of hyperbole such as "free" or "green.")

3. Wind will not play any significant role in the future of electrical power generation. The only reason for the current emphasis on wind turbines is that lobbyists for the wind industry have been successful in convincing politicians at all levels of government to create financial incentives such as tax credits to create artificial profits for wind installations.

In the meantime, our beautiful natural and scenic areas in the state of New York are being ravaged by the wind developers, intent only on their own profits. They have used corrupt methods, hopelessly divided our small towns and are ruining large areas of the state with no foreseeable benefit except to line their own pockets. I am disappointed that NYSERDA supports this sham. When people realize the amount of public funds that have gone to support wind power and that it does not effectively reduce either our greenhouse gas emissions or our dependence on fossil fuels, will NYSERDA want to be on the side of the wind developers?

Regards,

Bert Bowers
Chaumont, NY