U.S. — Life in a Wind Energy Plant
(Tip of the hat to Global Wind Energy Impact)
Cary Shineldecker of Riverton Township in Mason County MI testifies about life inside the CMS Energy Lakewinds wind plant which contains 56 Danish 0-1.8MW V100 Turbines. Each device is 476′ tall. The closest turbine is 1139 feet from his home. CMS received $73 million in stimulus funding for the $255 Million project. The installed cost for this wind project is $2,500/KW which is 25% higher than the national average. This is because MI must use “low wind” wind turbines due to an average 6.5M/s wind resource, far lower than IA’s 8.5M/s resource.
This plant will have an annual average capacity of perhaps 25MW.
CMS is currently planning a new CCGT nat gas plant of 700MW capacity with a price tag of $750 million. It will have an average capacity of nearly 700MW or 28 times more capacity than the wind plant for only 3 times the cost and will actually be able to replace coal generation at a 1:1 ration while slashing emissions.
Why must anyone be compelled to live this way without consent or compensation when the devices he now lives with are impotent regarding emissions reduction?
