Storm Destroys Wind and Solar Farm

So-called “renewable” energy

Dr. Peter F. Mayer, tkp.at (German)

It mainly creates renewed problems when the weather doesn’t play along. During a “dark doldrums” – for example in autumn or winter fog – there is almost no electricity. And the opposite, a proper storm, destroys entire costly installations – the true meaning of the adjective “renewable”.

Hundreds of solar panels on the huge 77-hectare Porth Wen solar park on Anglesey, North Wales – built only two years ago – were torn from their mountings and in some cases broken into pieces. The installation at Llanbadrig in the north of the island, owned by the French energy company EDF Energy and supplying up to 9,500 households with electricity, now has to be extensively repaired.

Elsewhere on Anglesey, the blades of a wind turbine were sheared off, and the turbine reportedly caught fire. Days later, work is still under way to reconnect thousands of households left without power and to reopen a number of railway lines in Wales and the West Country blocked by fallen trees.

Storm Darragh brought violent gusts reaching 155 km/h at Berry Head, Devon, and gales along the entire Irish Sea coast that spread eastwards inland.

A rare red weather warning was issued for the west of England and Wales, warning people not to leave their homes except in emergencies and to avoid car journeys.

Wind and solar energy cannot replace conventional energy production.

Nevertheless, investment continues in risky and expensive projects, such as the absurd 40-square-kilometre solar farm in a restricted nature reserve in Namibia, which is supposed to produce hydrogen that will then be shipped 12,000 km by sea to Germany. The planned area also lies in a high-wind zone; sooner or later the project faces a similar fate.

More on the topic (German)

• Produktion von “grünem” Wasserstoff in Nambia: Milliardengrab für deutsches Steuergeld?
• EU-Energiepolitik verursacht Kosten von mindestens 1300 Milliarden jährlich
• Sturm demontiert weltweit größte schwimmende Solarfarm
• Studie: Wind- und Solarparks verstärken Regen und Vegetation

Original article on tkp.at (German)

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