Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire These windmills are great!

The town of Port Angeles, WA paid over $100K for 3 of them to light a city park. They now figure that they'll save all of $42/month. That works out to a mere 212 years and they'll be paid for. We should all buy a couple.

Report: Costly wind turbines projected to yield $1.39 in daily savings
Published December 08, 2016 FoxNews.com
The Peninsula Daily News reported that the Port Angeles turbines, which haven’t yet been turned on, are expected to generate $1.39 per day in electricity, or roughly $42 per month.

The turbines were meant to help illuminate a local park. Now, some city council members are having second thoughts about their unanimous approval for the project.

“I did not realize they would produce so little energy. I wouldn’t have voted for it knowing it was that little,” City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch told The Peninsula Daily News.

Bruch said she was disappointed in the savings, though did “appreciate” the fact it “would educate folks about wind power.”

The city, though, challenged some details in the newspaper report.

Nathan West, director of Community and Economic Development for the city, told FoxNews.com in an email that daily savings could be as high as $5.44 “at peak windspeed” but cautioned that “determination of actual benefit in dollars at this time would be speculative because the spires are not yet operational.”

He also defended the city’s investment in the turbines, saying: “[T]he City did not purchase these spires for the purpose of energy creating infrastructure but rather as a park element. There are however many other thoughts that went into the decision making regarding purchase of the spires.” He said they add to a “positive aesthetic” in the park and “symbolize energy creation.”

The city council voted in October 2015 to approve $107,516 out of a total $285,952 county funding grant to purchase the turbines from Urban Green Energy.

While they were supposed to be turned on two months ago, a dispute over safety inspection of the project has resulted in delays.

The electricity that is produced would be used to power 31 lights in the newly built Waterfront Park.

The lower-than-anticipated savings could be even lower depending on the eventual cost of maintaining the turbines in the harsh and salty environment, Port Angeles Deputy Power Systems Manager Shailesh Shere told the newspaper.

Though some members of the council may not be sold on the alternative energy initiative, there were those who never bought into the promised cost savings in the first place.

“My fundamental objection to these is that they are not cost-effective and it’s a waste of money,” former deputy director of power systems Phil Lusk told the paper.

Like maybe educate them how wind power is not a vialble alternative? Duuuuhhhhh.

It's okay, it was just "Grant" money, that's like Free..!

Why would a city council vote on a project without knowing the costs vs savings? Never mind.

And I bet they lowballed maintenance "bigly," they usually do.

Rate them right up there with ethanol in my fuel.

But they will all be reelected next term.

Didn't you read? It was not energy they were after, but a symbol thereof...

FMR!!!

exactly. they knew the numbers before they approved the windmills. someone's relative made some money on the deal

Several years ago I looked at a small home windmill, something like 400 watts. In the fine print, well buried, was the statement that to get the 400 watts, you needed a sustained windspeed of 24 mph. That's a lot of wind. I doubt that I could get 100 W out of it.

I love this quote -

“I did not realize they would produce so little energy. I wouldn’t have voted for it knowing it was that little,” City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch told The Peninsula Daily News.

Sort of reminds me of another West Coast female standing before Congress saying "Let's pass it and see what's in it"

ROFL, haven't heard that phrase in years..... last word IS runnin', isn't it?

Aesthetic? They're butt ugly. A symbol of energy creation? How can that be when they don't create any energy?

Those and all windmills around here are a fu cking eyesore and a waste of tax payer money...

But only obviously!

And then there was the ultra-rare English bird the birders all flocked to the windfarm to see... just as it bought it on a blade.

Exactly.
It's turning out wind farms are killing birds at progidous rates.

Three wind farms in Woyoming have been prosecuted for killing Golden Eagles, and have paid about 10 million in fines, one more has been charged, two more are being investigated.

And Golden Eagles are the only thing they have solid mortality data on. Biologist believe there are zillions of other birds being killed in other locations around the US.

Casey

10 million in fines! Wow!

Technology has come quite a ways over the years, and yes, you do have to pay attention to things like solar and wind, but especially out in the bush I'd think it smart to have a bit of options.....

Ever get the MPG they advertise when selling cars eitehr? Knock 5 off that and you are about ballpark average.

Like the ethanol scam, if the government wasn't involved, you'd see little or no wind power. Comparatively, it provides very little energy.