Wind power is costly and unreliable

I recently read that in Ontario, there are now 963 megawatts of wind power available. However, the winds are never at optimum force everywhere, so the greatest amount of wind power actually fed to the grid was 466 megawatts, or about 50%. The average is 161 megawatts -- 17% -- and the minimum was eight megawatts, or less than 1%.

Just because the wind turbine blades are rotating does not mean there is any power output. They are designed to rotate at a constant speed, even when the output is negligible, much like a car motor idling in neutral. So with the power output ranging from 1% to 50% of capacity, how many coal-burning generating stations will the province shut down?

We also pay a heavy premium for this unreliable power. We must still maintain 963 megawatts of coal-burning generating capacity for the days when it is not windy. These coal-burning generating stations will now burn an average of 17% less coal while they continue to burn 83% of their current amount. So if wind power is the answer, we need to figure out what was the question.

Steve Manders Kingston